End of another frenetic week and month
May 2, 2008
Dear Mayne Reporters,
Amid all the action of recent days we've managed to post two new videos today covering the Alumina AGM and ANZ's hugely hypocritical bailout of Chimaera Capital.
There was also this Crikey sledge today on corporate governance king maker Dean Paatsch from Risk Metrics for failing to drive reform at the Alumina lunch club. Watch this video interview with the mega-powerful Paatsch and also check out this negative review of Nick Sherry's soft approach to governance as displayed at the big Risk Metrics governance conference last week.
Our scaremongering about Chinese investment was picked up on the Financial Times Alphaville blog and there was also this story on NSW power conflicts which might raise some eye-brows at tomorrow's special ALP conference in Sydney.
Click through for the full edition as we've named and shamed the seven ageing chairman of ASX100 companies who really should retire this year. Confirming Melbourne's old boys club culture, six of them live in Bleak City.
We've also got all the detail on our traffic figures plus a heads-up on the topics up for discussion on Business View tomorrow morning.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
Amid all the action of recent days we've managed to post two new videos today covering the Alumina AGM and ANZ's hugely hypocritical bailout of Chimaera Capital.
There was also this Crikey sledge today on corporate governance king maker Dean Paatsch from Risk Metrics for failing to drive reform at the Alumina lunch club. Watch this video interview with the mega-powerful Paatsch and also check out this negative review of Nick Sherry's soft approach to governance as displayed at the big Risk Metrics governance conference last week.
Our scaremongering about Chinese investment was picked up on the Financial Times Alphaville blog and there was also this story on NSW power conflicts which might raise some eye-brows at tomorrow's special ALP conference in Sydney.
Click through for the full edition as we've named and shamed the seven ageing chairman of ASX100 companies who really should retire this year. Confirming Melbourne's old boys club culture, six of them live in Bleak City.
We've also got all the detail on our traffic figures plus a heads-up on the topics up for discussion on Business View tomorrow morning.
Do ya best, Stephen Mayne
How Melbourne dominates for overstaying chairmen
After taking on the Alumina board yesterday, it became blindingly obvious that Melbourne remains at the absolute epi-centre of Australia's corporate old boys network.
At one level it was a relief that 70-year-old plodder Mark Rayner has at last retired from his final board after 23 years of very ordinary performance which all began when he joined the NAB board way back in 1985. This was when he was CEO of the Rio Tinto-controlled aluminium producer Comalco, which used NAB as its house banker.
NAB's then board composition policy of rewarding the CEOs of major clients is perhaps the worst example of Melbourne's notorious back-scratching old boys network, but what is truly shocking is the extent to which it remains in place today.
There are seven ageing non-executive chairman of ASX 100 companies who remain in the top job today and in my view should retire before the end of the year. I've ranked them in terms of sackability.
1. Brian Healey: The 74-year old Centro chairman finally broke his silence after five months this week to declare that the board was completely shocked when CEO Andrew Scott disclosed a $3.9 billion debt had suddenly fallen due. Having chaired the thing since 1993, Healey should have been all over management from the moment RAMS shares fell in a heap on August 14 last year.
2. Charles Goode: ANZ chairman for 13 years who should be finished off by Opes Prime. We ran the arguments against him in this video last year. Charles is a major Liberal Party fundraiser, who was very close to both John Howard and Peter Costello. Without any political protection and given the Opes Prime fiasco, Charles will be lucky to still be ANZ chairman by the time he turns 70 on August 26.
3. Maurice Newman: Close buddy of John Howard, chairman of ASX Ltd since 1994, but retiring in October. Turned 70 two weeks ago and has four years to go as ABC chairman. Maurice should take responsibility for some of the huge regulatory failings of the past 9 months.
4. Ron Walker: Former Liberal Party Treasurer, inappropriate chairman of Fairfax Media, chairman of the financially bleeding Grand Prix Corporation. Turns 70 on September 20 next year but deputy John B Fairfax is reportedly pushing for an early transition given the chaos at The Age.
5. Don Morley: Hugh Morgan's long-time finance director at WMC who picked up a final sinecure as chairman of post box company Alumina after the 2003 demerger and has collected more than $1.2 million for chairing the do-nothing company over the past 5 years. At 68 and with climate change deniers now passe, he should retire.
6. Bruce Teele: was at the epi-centre of the Melbourne business establishment when he became senior partner of JB Were in 1978 until he retired as executive chairman in 1998. However, ten years on he is still chairman of the JB Were-associated $5 billion Australian Foundatiion Investment Company despite turning 70 last year and first joining the board in 1966.
7. Don Argus: BHP chairman who is over-reaching with Rio Tinto tilt. Has chaired BHP for almost a decade and been a director since the Howard years began in 1996. Was the business community spokesman who urged John Howard to stay on. The recent plunge in Brambles shares capped off a disappointing decade leading that company.
Isn't it interesting how six of the seven most sackable old chairs live in Melbourne and the only one who has actually announced his pending retirement is Sydney-based ASX chairman Maurice Newman.
We really do have a cultural problem with the directors' club in Melbourne which is what made the institutional support for the old boys at Alumina this week so much more disappointing.
At one level it was a relief that 70-year-old plodder Mark Rayner has at last retired from his final board after 23 years of very ordinary performance which all began when he joined the NAB board way back in 1985. This was when he was CEO of the Rio Tinto-controlled aluminium producer Comalco, which used NAB as its house banker.
NAB's then board composition policy of rewarding the CEOs of major clients is perhaps the worst example of Melbourne's notorious back-scratching old boys network, but what is truly shocking is the extent to which it remains in place today.
There are seven ageing non-executive chairman of ASX 100 companies who remain in the top job today and in my view should retire before the end of the year. I've ranked them in terms of sackability.
1. Brian Healey: The 74-year old Centro chairman finally broke his silence after five months this week to declare that the board was completely shocked when CEO Andrew Scott disclosed a $3.9 billion debt had suddenly fallen due. Having chaired the thing since 1993, Healey should have been all over management from the moment RAMS shares fell in a heap on August 14 last year.
2. Charles Goode: ANZ chairman for 13 years who should be finished off by Opes Prime. We ran the arguments against him in this video last year. Charles is a major Liberal Party fundraiser, who was very close to both John Howard and Peter Costello. Without any political protection and given the Opes Prime fiasco, Charles will be lucky to still be ANZ chairman by the time he turns 70 on August 26.
3. Maurice Newman: Close buddy of John Howard, chairman of ASX Ltd since 1994, but retiring in October. Turned 70 two weeks ago and has four years to go as ABC chairman. Maurice should take responsibility for some of the huge regulatory failings of the past 9 months.
4. Ron Walker: Former Liberal Party Treasurer, inappropriate chairman of Fairfax Media, chairman of the financially bleeding Grand Prix Corporation. Turns 70 on September 20 next year but deputy John B Fairfax is reportedly pushing for an early transition given the chaos at The Age.
5. Don Morley: Hugh Morgan's long-time finance director at WMC who picked up a final sinecure as chairman of post box company Alumina after the 2003 demerger and has collected more than $1.2 million for chairing the do-nothing company over the past 5 years. At 68 and with climate change deniers now passe, he should retire.
6. Bruce Teele: was at the epi-centre of the Melbourne business establishment when he became senior partner of JB Were in 1978 until he retired as executive chairman in 1998. However, ten years on he is still chairman of the JB Were-associated $5 billion Australian Foundatiion Investment Company despite turning 70 last year and first joining the board in 1966.
7. Don Argus: BHP chairman who is over-reaching with Rio Tinto tilt. Has chaired BHP for almost a decade and been a director since the Howard years began in 1996. Was the business community spokesman who urged John Howard to stay on. The recent plunge in Brambles shares capped off a disappointing decade leading that company.
Isn't it interesting how six of the seven most sackable old chairs live in Melbourne and the only one who has actually announced his pending retirement is Sydney-based ASX chairman Maurice Newman.
We really do have a cultural problem with the directors' club in Melbourne which is what made the institutional support for the old boys at Alumina this week so much more disappointing.
Topics for Business View tomorrow
Sky Business Channel continues to try and build its Business View program at 9am each Saturday as the Insiders of the corporate world. The panel tomorrow morning is as follows:
Michael Sainsbury – The Australian
Scott Murdoch – The Sydney Morning Herald
Stephen Mayne, The Mayne Report
This should be a lively trio and the topics which are up for discussion are as follows:
1. The bid by British Gas for Origin – a done deal? What about the Chinese, maybe a counter-bid?
2. The Midwest Board approve the conditional bid by Sinosteel,? All commercial and political issues there? FIRB and Govt position on this?
3. Westpac result and CEO Gail Kelly declaring the worst is over. Plus her various comments about interest rates and the like.
4. The budget - Treasurer Swan is saying talk of a massive budget surplus is overstated?
5. The Government's crack down on executive share options loophole to supposedly help “working families”.
6. The funding lifelines to Allco and Centro and what about share trading in Allco this week,?
7. Opes Prime, the court case?
8. At a media conference this week, Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan had a huge go at the Government?
10. Electricity privatisation in NSW, will Premier Iemma be rolled and should it be sold? What about the experience in Victoria?
11. Alumina board tilt.
That's plenty of lively material to get through so tune in if you get a chance.
Michael Sainsbury – The Australian
Scott Murdoch – The Sydney Morning Herald
Stephen Mayne, The Mayne Report
This should be a lively trio and the topics which are up for discussion are as follows:
1. The bid by British Gas for Origin – a done deal? What about the Chinese, maybe a counter-bid?
2. The Midwest Board approve the conditional bid by Sinosteel,? All commercial and political issues there? FIRB and Govt position on this?
3. Westpac result and CEO Gail Kelly declaring the worst is over. Plus her various comments about interest rates and the like.
4. The budget - Treasurer Swan is saying talk of a massive budget surplus is overstated?
5. The Government's crack down on executive share options loophole to supposedly help “working families”.
6. The funding lifelines to Allco and Centro and what about share trading in Allco this week,?
7. Opes Prime, the court case?
8. At a media conference this week, Optus CEO Paul O'Sullivan had a huge go at the Government?
10. Electricity privatisation in NSW, will Premier Iemma be rolled and should it be sold? What about the experience in Victoria?
11. Alumina board tilt.
That's plenty of lively material to get through so tune in if you get a chance.
Mayne Report traffic continuing to grow
The May traffic figures are in and we're continuing to grow steadily. There are two main directories that make up the public website - a words section and a video section. Whilst these member updates are separate again, below are the latest encouraging visitor numbers for the words section.
*Unique Visits or UV are the most accurate statistics for gauging the popularity of a website.
WORDS SECTION STATS
September 2007 | 3,811 UV
This article was the most popular for the month Murdoch Campaign with 500 views for the month.
October 2007 | 3,477 UV
Again the top article for this month was the Murdoch Campaign with 397 views, but this article Top Stories was just as popular with 357 views.
November 2007 | 7,587 UV
With traffic beginning to grow, the two most popular articles for the month were Woolies tells pokies porkies with 540 views and Campaign Costello with 642.
December 2007 | 11,704 UV
The most popular articles this month were Sydney visit, HFA, Schubert, Rich List, Kwoff.com and more with 1006 unique visits and with the beginning of The Mayne Report Rich List, it was the second most popular article for the month with 882 visits.
January 2008 | 17,190 UV
The most popular articles this month were The 187 stocks we've bought in 2008 with 2,483 unique visits. This could be attributed to the downturn in the stock market and people on the search for any information about the market. Secondly was an article about the brewing troubles with ABC Learning Is trouble brewing for ABC Learning? with 550 visits and again the The Mayne Report Rich List remains a well visited article with 527 visits.
February 2008 | 22,952 UV
Three articles broke the 1000 visit mark. Number 1 was The documents behind Rupert's pay-TV piracy battle with 1960 visits. Secondly, What I've been up to lately with 1597 visits is a kind of news feed of recent activities which became instantly popular. Next was the 50 foreign-owned major resource projects with 1141 unique visits.
March 2008 | 21,340 UV
As The Mayne Report Rich List grows toward the goal of 1000 names, so does its popularity with the most visits this month with 1993. Coming in second was our news feed page What I've been up to lately which had 1886 views.
April 2008 | 24,869 UV
Our news feed page What I've been up to lately had 5,808 visits and came in first as the most popular on the site. The Mayne Report Rich List continues to grow toward the goal of 1000 names, so does its popularity with the second most visits this month with 5,578. Coming in third was the article containing the sharemarket dealings of 2008 The 199 stocks we've bought in 2008 with 2,959 visits.
WORDS SECTION STATS
September 2007 | 3,811 UV
This article was the most popular for the month Murdoch Campaign with 500 views for the month.
October 2007 | 3,477 UV
Again the top article for this month was the Murdoch Campaign with 397 views, but this article Top Stories was just as popular with 357 views.
November 2007 | 7,587 UV
With traffic beginning to grow, the two most popular articles for the month were Woolies tells pokies porkies with 540 views and Campaign Costello with 642.
December 2007 | 11,704 UV
The most popular articles this month were Sydney visit, HFA, Schubert, Rich List, Kwoff.com and more with 1006 unique visits and with the beginning of The Mayne Report Rich List, it was the second most popular article for the month with 882 visits.
January 2008 | 17,190 UV
The most popular articles this month were The 187 stocks we've bought in 2008 with 2,483 unique visits. This could be attributed to the downturn in the stock market and people on the search for any information about the market. Secondly was an article about the brewing troubles with ABC Learning Is trouble brewing for ABC Learning? with 550 visits and again the The Mayne Report Rich List remains a well visited article with 527 visits.
February 2008 | 22,952 UV
Three articles broke the 1000 visit mark. Number 1 was The documents behind Rupert's pay-TV piracy battle with 1960 visits. Secondly, What I've been up to lately with 1597 visits is a kind of news feed of recent activities which became instantly popular. Next was the 50 foreign-owned major resource projects with 1141 unique visits.
March 2008 | 21,340 UV
As The Mayne Report Rich List grows toward the goal of 1000 names, so does its popularity with the most visits this month with 1993. Coming in second was our news feed page What I've been up to lately which had 1886 views.
April 2008 | 24,869 UV
Our news feed page What I've been up to lately had 5,808 visits and came in first as the most popular on the site. The Mayne Report Rich List continues to grow toward the goal of 1000 names, so does its popularity with the second most visits this month with 5,578. Coming in third was the article containing the sharemarket dealings of 2008 The 199 stocks we've bought in 2008 with 2,959 visits.