HP bonuses reflect profitable year

EXECS' PAYOUTS ALSO BOOSTED BY 3-YEAR PROGRAM

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Last week, Hewlett-Packard disclosed that it had given Chief Executive and Chairman Mark Hurd one of the biggest bonuses in Silicon Valley history as part of the $19 million he received in 2006. And Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president of HP's Imaging and Printing Group, saw his bonus more than double.

So how did the rest of HP's executives do?

Read more here.

Execs sell PDF stock just in time

SAN JOSE FIRM WARNS OF LOSSES AND PRICES DROP

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Insiders at PDF Solutions of San Jose who sold stock earlier this month may have done so just in time. On Jan. 11, the company warned that financial results for the most recent quarter would fall well short of management's previous guidance. The stock price has since fallen.

In a Jan. 11 press release, PDF Solutions, which sells software to design chip manufacturing systems, said revenue for the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 would come in between $18.7 million to $19.1 million. Back in October, the company had predicted that revenue would be in the range of $21 million to $22.5 million.

Although analysts had projected a profit of 10 cents a share, the company on Jan. 11 said it expected to post a loss of 4 cents to 6 cents a share.

Read more here.

VeriFone a good call for its chief

CEO BERGERON, PARTNERS BOUGHT IT FROM HP IN '01

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Earlier this month, VeriFone of San Jose rewarded Chairman and Chief Executive Douglas G. Bergeron with a lucrative, three-year contract extension that could be worth up to $63.4 million if the company meets a series of financial targets.

The pay package would be on top of $94.2 million that Bergeron has received in salary, bonus, dividends and stock sales since he and some partners paid $50 million back in 2001 to purchase a division of Hewlett-Packard that became VeriFone.

Read more here.

Netflix chief stepped up sales in '06

EXECS CASH IN AS COMPANY'S SHARES MEANDER

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Netflix stock had a slightly down year in 2006. That didn't matter much to insiders who had a good year selling their stock in the online DVD rental service.

The stock started 2006 trading at $27.06 and closed the year at $25.86. Along the way, it climbed as high as $33.12 and dipped as low as $18.12. While the company hasn't posted its annual revenue numbers for 2006, the first nine months saw revenue climb 47.1 percent and profit jump almost 800 percent over the same period in 2005.

Despite investors' mixed reaction to this performance, five insiders still sold $78.4 million worth of stock in 2006, up from $9.1 million in 2005. Since the company's initial public offering in May 2002, insiders have sold $469.3 million worth of stock.

Read more here.

A profitable ride at Smart Modular

FOUNDER SOLD, BOUGHT, WENT PUBLIC TWICE

By Chris O'Brien
Mercury News

Almost two decades after Ajay Shah founded Smart Modular, he's on the verge of getting yet another sizable payday from selling stock in a company he's sold once, bought once, and taken public twice. Shah's good fortune says a lot about how Silicon Valley has changed since he started the company with his wife in 1988.

Read more here.