24/7 Wall St. » IACI

Google’s Takes Nearly a Third of Global Digital Ad Revenues

Paul Ausick — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:49:52 +0000

The total amount spent on digital advertising in 2012 was just more than $104 billion. That total is expected to grow to $116.8 billion in 2013, and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) will get the lion’s share.

According to the latest estimates from research firm eMarketer, Google will claim about 31.5% of global ad revenues for 2012 and more than 33% in 2013. The revenues reflect both desktop and mobile advertising. eMarketer figures Google’s digital advertising revenue at $32.73 billion in 2012 and expects the search giant to post revenues of $38.83 billion this year.

Trailing way behind in second place is Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) with 4.11% of 2012 global digital ad revenue ($4.28 billion) and an 2013 estimate for a 5.04% share ($5.89 billion). Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is third with a 3.37% share in 2012 and an estimate for 3.1% this year.

Looking just at mobile Internet advertising revenues, Google raked in $4.61 billion of a global total of $8.8 billion in mobile ad spending. Only ‘other’ posted revenues higher than $1 billion.

In 2013, eMarketer estimates the mobile Internet will generate a total of $15.82 billion, of which Google will again claim more than half — $8.85 billion. Facebook Inc. took in just $470 million in 2012, but is projected to more than triple its take in 2013 to $2.04 billion.

It’s a different story when it comes to growth rates, of course, where being huge is a disadvantage. Here’s eMarketer’s story:

While both Google and Facebook are increasing revenues at faster rates than the overall digital ad spend market, dramatic increases in ad revenues are more difficult for companies with such high earnings. Twitter will post the fastest growth rate in worldwide ad revenues among the companies eMarketer analyzed, with a 102.2% increase expected this year after a 106.7% increase in 2012. That’s compared with 12.3% growth in total digital ad spending projected for 2013, and 20.4% growth estimated for 2012.

Other companies poised for double digit ad revenue growth in 2013 include Millennial Media Inc. (NYSE: MM), Pandora Inc. (NYSE: P), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI). However, only Facebook and Google among the larger companies are actually growing revenue share year-over-year.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Internet, Media, Research Tagged: AMZN, FB, featured, GOOG, IACI, LNKD, MM, MSFT, P, YHOO

Another Loss in Court for TV Networks

Paul Ausick — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:55:26 +0000

A federal appeals court today denied the appeal from a group of broadcasters including CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), which owns the ABC television network, News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS), owners of the Fox network, and Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), which owns the NBC network, and others against a streaming video service provided by a small company called Aereo, which is backed by Barry Diller, the CEO of IAC/InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).

In a July ruling, a district court judge denied the broadcasters request for an injunction to stop Aereo from offering its service. Today’s ruling denied the broadcasters’ appeal of that ruling.

Aereo, currently only available in New York City, makes an miniature antenna that captures over-the-air broadcast TV signals and then sells subscriptions to those signals via streaming over an Internet connection. In the original ruling, the judge stated that the Aereo device is virtually the same as a DVR, a device that was declared legal several years ago because its retransmission of programming is made to a single subscriber and is not a performance aimed at the general public. As such, the device does not violate copyright law.

There is too much at stake here for this to be the last word, but the situation does not look good for the broadcasters.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Cable Companies, Entertainment, Internet, Law, TV Tagged: CBS, CMCSA, DIS, featured, IACI, NWSA

More Pressure for Changes to Pay TV

Paul Ausick — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:28:24 +0000

We’ve been following for some time now the jockeying for position that has been going on in the entertainment industry. The past weekend brought a new offer from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), another blast from Barry Diller of IAC/InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI), and news from Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) on producing its own original content.

Verizon and Amazon are taking different approaches to the issue of content. Verizon wants to pay for content based on viewership, an approach that has never appealed to content providers like the broadcast networks or the cable channels or the movie studios. The content providers, like The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), which owns ABC and ESPN, and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) have resisted any attempt to split up their offerings in any way.

Amazon, following the path set out by Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX), will produce 11 pilot programs of its own for its Amazon Prime viewers. The company plans to broadcast all the pilots and produce further installments of those that pull viewers.

Diller and IAC, through an investment in a small company called Aereo, is using a scheme that really outrages content providers. Aereo makes a small antenna that it uses to capture broadcast signals and then converts the signal to a stream than can be delivered over the Internet to any connected device. So far the system has only been tested in New York City, but Aereo is about to roll out the service in 22 cities. Aereo won a court battle last summer preventing an injunction against its plan, but the case has been appealed. This may be the biggest threat of all to the broadcast networks.

With assaults on the existing model of pay TV coming from every direction, about the only thing the content providers can do is resist on all fronts. Eventually, though, that strategy will cost the media firms viewers as consumers find their entertainment somewhere else.

Consumers are no longer willing simply to put up and shut up. They want access to TV shows, movies, music, and other content at the time and on the device of their choosing. The top-down model the networks and media companies like is eroding and they won’t be able to beat back every assault that’s coming.

Filed under: Cable Companies, Consumer Electronics, Entertainment, Media, Satellite, Technology Companies, Telecom & Wireless, TV Tagged: AMZN DIS, CBS, IACI, NFLX, VZ

Eight Companies That Love Valentine’s Day

Mike Sauter — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:49:08 +0000

Valentine’s Day spending is expected to reach $18.6 billion this year. On average, Americans are expected to spend $130.97 this holiday, up only slightly from $126.03 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Even as consumer spending habits change, some products, such as greeting cards and candy, remain Valentine Day staples. Other products, such as jewelry, are less popular and depend on the spending habits of fewer consumers. Companies that make the most on Valentine’s Day typically look to the holiday as vital to their bottom lines.

Click here to see the eight companies that love Valentine’s Day

Many businesses that depend on the holiday sell a product many consumers buy every year. American Greetings Corp. is one of the nation’s largest greeting card companies. It specializes in a product 54% of consumers are expected to buy for their Valentines, according to NRF. The Hershey Company is one of the biggest chocolate and sugar confectionary products manufacturers More than half of all consumers will buy candy for Valentine’s Day, spending a total of $1.66 billion.

Other companies that mark February 14 on their calendar sell high-priced items to fewer consumers. Only 19.7% of consumers plan on buying jewelry from companies such as Tiffany. But the total amount spent is estimated to be $4.4 billion, more than any other good or service for the holiday.

What people buy for Valentine’s Day, and how much they spend, can easily change. Valentine’s Day consumers enjoying an evening out are expected to spend an average of $77 this year. This is up from $66 in 2010, leading to an increase in the total amount spent on restaurants from $3.3 billion in 2010 to to $4 billion 2013. If this happens, high-end restaurant chain brands like Bloomin’ Brands, which owns Outback Steackhouse and Bonefish Grill, will be the beneficiaries.

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the largest publicly traded companies responsible for the most widely-consumed products and services on Valentine’s Day. In some cases, such as Hershey’s, 1-800-Flowers and American Greeting, a majority of the company’s sales are in that product. In others, such as Limited, IAC and Bloomin’ Brands, only part of their sales are in that business, but the company owns the largest brand for the particular product. Bloomin’ Brands owns Bonefish Grill, the largest upscale dining establishment in the country by sales, according to Technomic. We relied on National Retail Federation, for the product categories Americans are likely to buy on Valentine’s Day.

These are the companies that love Valentine’s Day.

Filed under: General, Special Report Tagged: AM, BLMN, CHD, featured, FLWS, HSY, IACI, LTD, TIF

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 7, 2013: Markets Flat to Start, Then Slide (BBRY, MCP, NOK, ABBV, GOOG, FMC, GMCR, IACI, TSO, V, YELP, ALU, BG, CI, MWW, NYT, PM, S, TEVA, ATVI, CSTR, LNKD, RVBD, SPWR, AOL, APO, MCO, XONE, SUTR, AKAM)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:02:48 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened flat this morning, largely due to a slew of data from Europe that essentially cancelled any good news with an equal dollop of bad. U.S. unemployment data came out before the market opened and was a bit worse than expected (more coverage here). In Europe, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank both kept key interest rates unchanged, Italy’s Monte del Paschi bank reported its derivatives loss at just short of $1 billion, France’s trade deficit was greater than expected, and German industrial production rose a bit more than expected. In Asia, traders were selling as we go into the lunar new year holiday weekend, which begins a week of exchange closures of different lengths in different markets. In the U.S., sellers outgunned buyers and a strengthening dollar held down energy and gold prices.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.61% today, now at 80.206. The GSCI commodity index is down about 0.1% at 676.14, with commodities prices mostly lower today. WTI crude oil closed down 0.8% today, at $95.83 a barrel, it’s lowest level in two weeks. Brent crude trades up 0.4% at $117.20 a barrel. Natural gas is down 3.6% today at about $3.29 per million BTUs after the EIA reported that inventories shrank less than expected (more coverage here). Gold settled down 0.5% today at $1,671.30 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 43 points to 13,943.17 (-0.31%), the NASDAQ fell more than 3 points (-0.11%) to 3,165.14, and the S&P 500 fell -0.19% or nearly 3 points to 1,509.30.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including BlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) raised to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan; Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) reiterated as ‘hold’ at Argus; AbbVie Inc. (NYSE: ABBV) started as ‘neutral’ at Credit Suisse; and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) started as ‘neutral’ at Sterne Agee.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC) is down 3.4% at $59.74; Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is down 5.5% at $46.25 (more coverage here); IAC/InterActivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI) is up 1.8% at $43.78; Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO) is up 2.9% at $52.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $53.14 earlier today; Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is down 2.3% at $157.20 (more coverage here); Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP) is down 5.1% at $21.25 (more coverage here); Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) is down 7.1% at $1.59 (more coverage here); Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG) is down 8.6% at $72.56 (more coverage here); Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI) is up 2.6% at $61.19 after posting a new 52-week high of $61.23 earlier today; Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) is down 7% at $5.44 after posting a new 52-week low of $5.01 earlier today; New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) is up 3.2% at $8.50; Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) is up 2.5% at $89.85 (more coverage here); Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is down 1% at $5.71 (more coverage here); and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA) is down 0.5% at $37.96.

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), Coinstar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR), LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD), Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD), SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR), AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE: APO), and Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

The ExOne Co. (NASDAQ: XONE) is up 49% at $26.80. The 3D printer company held its IPO today and went out big. More coverage here.

Sutor Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: SUTR) is up 60% at $1.62. The China-based steel products maker posted quarterly EPS that were double expectations.

Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) is down 15.9% at $34.97. The network and cloud company posted so-so revenues and light guidance after close last night..

Stay tuned for Friday. Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – International trade
10:00 a.m. – Wholesale trade

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ABBV, AKAM, ALU, AOL, APO, ATVI, BBRY, BG, CI, CSTR, FMC, GMCR, GOOG, IACI, LNKD, MCO, MCP, MWW, NOK, NYT, PM, RVBD, S, SPWR, SUTR, TEVA, TSO, V, XONE, Yelp

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — February 6, 2013: Markets Waver With Little New Data to Chew On (FSLR, JCP, WFC, ACI, ITRI, CMG, EXPE, GNW, TTWO, DIS, ZNGA, CVS, MRO, NUS, RL, SYT, TWX, FMC, GMCR, IACI, TSO, V, YELP, ALU, BG, CI, MWW, NYT, PM, S, TEVA, BCC, GDP, VOCS)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:04:54 +0000

U.S. equity markets opened lower this morning before bouncing into positive territory briefly and then turning south again. As happened yesterday, the focus was on Europe, where Italy’s oldest bank was expected to reveal the extent of its derivatives losses, estimated by some to be as high as €1 billion. German factory orders came in slightly below estimates. In Asia, the early resignation of one governor from the Bank of Japan sent the Nikkei up nearly 4%. There was little data out in the U.S. today. Mortgage applications rose 3.4% from last week (more coverage here) and crude oil inventories also rose. But today has mostly been spent waiting for news from Italy. In the event, shares came close to a flat finish.

The U.S. dollar index rose 0.3% today, now at 79.721. The GSCI commodity index is up 0.4% at 676.70, with commodities prices lower today. WTI crude oil closed flat today, at $96.62 a barrel following today’s report on inventories (more coverage here). Brent crude trades up 0.2% at $116.80 a barrel. Natural gas is up 0.8% today at about $3.43 per million BTUs. Gold settled up 0.3% today at $1,678.80 an ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up less than 7 points to 13,985.98 (0.05%), the NASDAQ fell about 3 points (-0.10%) to 3,168.48, and the S&P 500 rose 0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,512.06.

There were a several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) started as ‘buy’ at Citi; J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) started as ‘sell’ at Maxim Group; Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) started as ‘buy’ at Nomura; Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) cut to ‘neutral’ at J.P. Morgan; and Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) raised to ‘buy’ with a price target of $52 at Argus.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night resulted in several price moves today, including these: Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is up 5.8% at $322.83; Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is down 2.7% at $65.65; Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is down 3.1% at $8.89; Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) is up 14.9% at $14.54; Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) is up 0.4% at $54.53 after posting a new 52-week high of $55.50 earlier today (more coverage here); Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is up 8.4% at $2.97 (more coverage here); CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is down 1.3% at $51.06 (more coverage here); Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO) is down 1.4% at $34.23; Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: NUS) is down 3.3% at $41.56; Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 5.8% at $174.43; Syngenta AG (NYSE: SYT) is down 2.3% at $85.10; and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is up 4.1% at $52.01 after posting a new 52-week high of $55.23 earlier today (more coverage here).

After markets close today and before they open tomorrow morning we are scheduled to hear from FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), IAC/InterActivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Tesoro Corp. (NYSE: TSO), Visa Inc. (NYSE: V), Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), Alcatel Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU), Bunge Ltd. (NYSE: BG), Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI), Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW), New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA).

Some standouts from today include the following stocks:

Boise Cascade Co. (NYSE: BCC) is up 25.9% at $26.43. The wood products maker held its IPO today, and priced above the expected range. More coverage here.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: GDP) is up 18.6% at $12.60. The oil & gas E&P firm announced rising production at one of its wells.

Vocus Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) is down 15.5% at $15.00. The cloud software company after guiding current quarter earnings and revenues lower.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Fed Governor Jeremy Stein are giving speeches. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
8:30 a.m. – Productivity and costs
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
3:00 p.m. – Consumer credit
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACI, ALU, BCC, BG, CI, CMG, CVS, DIS, EXPE, featured, FMC, FSLR, GDP, GMCR, GNW, IACI, ITRI, JCP, MRO, MWW, NUS, NYT, PM, RL, S, SYT, TEVA, TSO, TTWO, TWX, V, VOCS, WFC, Yelp, ZNGA

Vringo Goes After Microsoft

Paul Ausick — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:11:45 +0000

Intellectual property firm Vringo Inc. (NYSEMKT: VRNG) announced this morning that a wholly owned subsidiary, I/P Engine, had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) alleging that the software giant had infringed on two Vringo patents. The suit seeks compensatory damages “past and future, amounting to no less than reasonable royalties.”

Last November Vringo settled a similar suit against Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), IAC/InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), and Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) for $30 million. Vringo had sought $500 million.

The patents involved in the suit against Microsoft is the same as the patents involved in the Google lawsuit, and are related to relevance filtering when displaying search results. The patents were issued to Lycos, an early web search engine, and were acquired by I/P Engine before it merged with Vringo last year.

Google paid nearly $16 million to Vringo in the November settlement, and that’s probably a figure Microsoft will try to negotiate down.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Internet, Law, Software Tagged: AOL, GCI, GOOG, IACI, MSFT, VRNG

Internet Stocks That Will Rise the Most in 2013 (AMZN, AOL, EBAY, GOOG, IACI, MSFT, WWWW, YHOO, FB, LNKD)

Jon C. Ogg — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:29:29 +0000

After all the Web 2.0 (or 3.0) flops of 2012, it turns out that 2013 may be a very interesting year for the Internet sector. We saw some key developments take place, all of which are likely to have a serious impact on the future of the Web. Here were just some of the highlights.

Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) was supposed to have another dead and buried year, but Marissa Mayer saved the day. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) became a serious mobile player and now owns much of the actual technology, with Android taking over. With the combined Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo!, Google has more steady competition in its core search market. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) destroyed more than its fair share of investor money, only to stage a serious recovery as its mobile plan was deemed adequate. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continued to grow at the expense of margins.

What 247 Wall St. wants to know is what is the outlook for the Internet sector in 2013 happens to be. As it turns out, there probably will be more surprises ahead in the coming year. We have decided to analyze and evaluate the prospects for the likes of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), IAC/InteractiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Web.com Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) and of course social networking giants Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) and LinkedIn Corp. (NYSE: LNKD).

They are in alphabetical order. We highlighted the current and recent trends for color, and we gave expected upside and trading history as well. All consensus estimates for 2013 earnings and the consensus price target from analysts have been provided by Thomson Reuters.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is off to one great start in 2013. In fact, its stock hit an all-time high after Morgan Stanley raised its rating to Outperform and gave a whopping $325 price target. We have been extremely surprised that Jeff Bezos has managed to run the company’s gross margin down to nothing only to get Wall St. praise. If Amazon can really grab 24% of global e-commerce by 2016 or 2017, as one report suggests, Bezos is going to see his billions grow to even more. The company is taking over the cloud and has grown its Kindle sales despite the love for the iPad garnering so much attention.

Amazon trades at $268.46. While the consensus analyst price target of $277.42 implies that there is only 3.3% upside left, some analysts see Amazon rising to more than $300 in 2013. At more than 150-times expected 2013 earnings, Amazon cannot afford any serious setbacks, and this stock might be very vulnerable if the market corrects.

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was a significant surprise in 2012, with shares having more than doubled. If you go back a year ago, AOL was only liked by short sellers. The company managed to keep its style of aggressive content with Huffington Post, and it has not lost the identity that so many investors used to wonder about. It also has been able to avoid excessive pay and redundant employees that hurt many new media companies in the past. The reality is that this stock had been battered and bruised for so long that many investors basically forgot about it. After a large stock buyback and then a special $5.15 dividend, it seems that investors are more pleased with their return in AOL shares. A repeat of 2012 in the year 2013 is going to be extremely difficult because so much value was unlocked. What AOL does have going for it is that it already is what Yahoo! wants to become in a content destination and large email provider.

AOL shares are currently just over $30, against a 52-week range of $14.87 to $43.93. With a $2.5 billion market value today, analysts see this value up at $41.50 or so for upside of about 35%. AOL trades at close to 21-times its expected 2013 earnings.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Internet, Mergers & Acquisitions, Technology, Technology Companies, Value Investing Tagged: AMZN, AOL, EBAY, FB, FDN, featured, GOOG, IACI, LNKD, MSFT, WWWW, YHOO, ZNGA

Eight Outrageous CEO Perks

Douglas A. — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:46:59 +0000

The outcry about overpaid CEOs has gone on for years as the financial press combs SEC statements for outlandish pay packages that sometime run into the tens of millions of dollars. Often lost among the large sums paid out as salary, bonuses, and stock options are special compensations for valuable services that very few people can afford — what is most commonly known as perks. Many public companies provide services, at no charge, to their CEOs, ranging from the use of private corporate airplanes to accounting services and security details. The value of these perks can add well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for some chief executives.

Click here to see the eight outrageous CEO perks

24/7 looked through a large number of proxy statements, including those for the 50 companies that paid their CEOs the most last year, to find special benefits for which shareholders paid extraordinary amounts. The chief executive officers who received these perks almost all have one or two things in common. Most are wildly rich, or work for wildly rich people. This includes moguls such as Barry Diller. Many of the executives on this list are also the founders of their companies, such as Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart. And many, like Las Vegas Sands casino boss Sheldon Adelson, have effective voting control over the public corporation they run.

It would be tempting to say, although it cannot be proven, that the most powerful CEOs and chairmen based on wealth, ownership, and founder’s privileges get the best perks. They are certainly in a position to control their compensation packages better than most public company leaders.

So, from among the most generous CEO perks, 24/7 Wall St. has picked several of the most extravagant ones.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Compensation, Special Report Tagged: CBS, CHK, featured, FNF, IACI, JCP, LVS, MSO, RL

Liberty Interactive Now Steers TripAdvisor

Paul Ausick — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:28:16 +0000

John Malone’s Liberty Interactive Corp. (NASDAQ: LINTA) this morning announced that it has acquired a controlling interest in TripAdvisor Inc. (NASDAQ: TRIP) in a transaction worth $300 million. Liberty acquired approximately 4.8 million shares of TripAdvisor from Barry Diller and the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. Diller is chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) and the husband of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.

Liberty has said that its stake in TripAdvisor will be “attributed” to its Liberty Ventures (NASDAQ: LVNTA) tracking stock. Liberty Ventures holds the company’s nonconsolidated assets, which include stakes in AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPD), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), among others.

TripAdvisor’s travel planning services dovetail nicely with Expedia’s travel booking business and may be Liberty’s response to the recent $1.8 billion Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) buyout of Kayak Software Corp. (NASDAQ: KYAK). Liberty’s acquisition of control of TripAdvisor is likely not intended to compete with the Priceline/Kayak duo as much as it is a potential growth driver for Expedia and ultimately Liberty.

TripAdvisor’s shares are up about 9.2% at $41.79 in a 52-week range of $23.99 to $47.81.

Liberty Interactive’s shares are up 0.1% at $19.16 in a 52-week range of $15.13 to $20.95.

Liberty Ventures’ shares are up 9.1% at $63.90 after posting a new 52-week high of $64.22 earlier today. The previous range was $40.00 to $59.81.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Internet, Technology Companies Tagged: AOL, EXPD, IACI, KYAK, LINTA, PCLN, TRIP, TWC, TWX