What Are They Paid?

Welcome to WHATARETHEYPAID.com. Our website is designed for the private, non-institutional investor who wants to know if the companies he/she is investing in are compensating their directors and management in a way that is fair to the stockholders.

Stockholders are, after all, the owners of the company. Everything that happens in a business should first and foremost be focused on improving the value of stockholders' holdings. When we invest our money into businesses we have the right to expect that management will act in an honorable fiduciary capacity for us. That means they will pay the salaries necessary to attract capable staff, but not allow shareholders' money to be used in some of the flagrantly abusive ways it has sometimes been in recent years.

All sophisticated investors are aware of the troubles at Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco, and of the $100 million payout to Grasso by the New York Stock Exchange. But how aware are we of the potential for abuse in the multitude of other companies whose sad tidings have yet to be made public? And if we want to be better aware, how can we find the time and skill necessary to plow through stacks of SEC filings to glean out the bits of information we need to form an intelligent judgment?

Enter WHATARETHEYPAID.com! We've done the work for you. Our staff has examined the proxy statements and filings for the companies we report on, and formed an overall rating for whether each company is treating its shareholders fairly. We call this rating system the FAIR PAY INDEX and it ranges from A+ to F-. Additionally we provide a brief analysis of why we think the company deserves the rating we've given it.

This year we analyzed the Dow Jones Industrial Index. The individual characteristics of each company's executive compensation program are analyzed and benchmarked against the averages for the Dow Jones Industrial Index as a whole. This is a modest start and we hope to soon be adding more companies and improving the depth of our analysis as we go along. Our goal is to analyze the executive compensation programs of the top 500 publicly traded companies.

Feel free to send us any feedback about our website and/or analysis. We look forward to hearing from you.


Home Fair Pay Index Ratings of the Dow 30 Companies Research Glossary Links Contact Us		Welcome to WHATARETHEYPAID.com. Our website is designed for the private, non-institutional investor who wants to know if the companies he/she is investing in are compensating their directors and management in a way that is fair to the stockholders. Stockholders are, after all, the owners of the company. Everything that happens in a business should first and foremost be focused on improving the value of stockholders' holdings. When we invest our money into businesses we have the right to expect that management will act in an honorable fiduciary capacity for us. That means they will pay the salaries necessary to attract capable staff, but not allow shareholders' money to be used in some of the flagrantly abusive ways it has sometimes been in recent years. All sophisticated investors are aware of the troubles at Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco, and of the $100 million payout to Grasso by the New York Stock Exchange. But how aware are we of the potential for abuse in the multitude of other companies whose sad tidings have yet to be made public? And if we want to be better aware, how can we find the time and skill necessary to plow through stacks of SEC filings to glean out the bits of information we need to form an intelligent judgment? Enter WHATARETHEYPAID.com! We've done the work for you. Our staff has examined the proxy statements and filings for the companies we report on, and formed an overall rating for whether each company is treating its shareholders fairly. We call this rating system the FAIR PAY INDEX and it ranges from A+ to F-. Additionally we provide a brief analysis of why we think the company deserves the rating we've given it. This year we analyzed the Dow Jones Industrial Index. The individual characteristics of each company's executive compensation program are analyzed and benchmarked against the averages for the Dow Jones Industrial Index as a whole. This is a modest start and we hope to soon be adding more companies and improving the depth of our analysis as we go along. Our goal is to analyze the executive compensation programs of the top 500 publicly traded companies. Feel free to send us any feedback about our website and/or analysis. We look forward to hearing from you.