ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180053
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
Saying he has taken a ``pounding'' over the past 90 days, AT&T Chairman Robert Allen confronted his critics at the phone giant's annual shareholder meeting here Wednesday.
``CEOs of top companies make a lot of money,'' said Allen, who last year was paid $5.2 million, plus stock options worth $11 million by some measures. Allen said they're worthless now and won't pay off unless AT&T's stock goes up by as much as 30 percent.
``I hope they are worth every dime I can make them worth, because if I can, then you have benefited,'' Allen told about 900 shareholders.
But several shareholders spoke out against Allen's pay package, particularly in light of the 40,000 jobs AT&T announced it would cut as it splits into three separate companies.
Corporate gadfly Eveyln Y. Davis berated AT&T's board, saying that to reward Allen with options so quickly after the job cuts was insensitive. Directors up for re-election also caught flak from Ed Fiegen, an AFL-CIO official representing the Teamsters' pension fund.
``Each of these board members have failed in their basic task of deciding your pay,'' Fiegen told Allen.
Despite a protest vote of some pension funds, the directors nominated by AT&T were easily elected, each getting votes equal to more than 1.1 billion common shares.
Some shareholders voiced concern about the division of AT&T into three companies: Lucent Technologies for phone equipment, NCR Corp. for computers and AT&T for phone service.
``I have to say I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when I heard you were breaking the company up,'' said Gavin Levy, of Boca Raton, Fla.
Levy said the track record of companies after such voluntary breakups is not good.
Allen said the breakup is needed because AT&T's equipment division was losing business to long-distance firms that are rivals of AT&T's phone service.
Several speakers sought a dividend increase; Allen equivocated. Retirees pressed for a cost of living pension increase; Allen said it was on the agenda at all times.
Before the meeting, New York-based AT&T announced its first-quarter results. Profits rose 14 percent to $1.44 billion or 90 cents a share on revenue of $12.95 billion.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP AT&T stockholders attend the 111th annualby CNBshareholders meeting in Miami on Wednesday as Chairman Robert Allen
answers questions. His image is projected on giant television
screens at either side of the podium. Several shareholders spoke out
against Allen's pay package, particularly in light of the 40,000
jobs AT&T announced it would cut as it splits into three separate
companies. Allen last year was paid $5.2 million, plus stock options
worth $11 million by some measures. color