Target execs were granted share units one day before Canada retreat
Source: The Globe and Mail
Target Corp. granted thousands of share units to its executives and board members last month on the day before the company announced plans to close its Canadian stores, pushing the retailer’s share price higher as investors applauded the news.
Regulatory filings of insider transactions show 10 of Target’s top executives – including chief executive officer Brian Cornell – and 10 members of Target’s board were granted a total of 113,298 performance share units on Jan. 14 as part of the company’s annual grant of equity under its compensation plan. Mr. Cornell alone received 22,749 share units.
On the same day the share units were granted, the Target board approved the decision to retreat from Canada. The U.S.-based discounter announced the next day on Jan. 15 that it was shutting its money-losing Canadian operations, saying it could not see a way to make the 133 stores profitable for at least five years. The news drove Target’s share price up 2 per cent to close at $75.67 (U.S.) on Jan. 15 from $74.33 the prior day. Since then, the share price has continued to increase, closing Friday at $76.12.
... Corporate governance experts say Target’s board should have been more sensitive to the unusual circumstances when a major news release was pending the next day. York University associate law professor Richard Leblanc said the board’s decision to grant share units a day before the news release “does not pass the smell test from a governance point of view.” Even if the grant date for the share units was set in advance, Mr. Leblanc said the announcement of the Canadian division’s closing should have been done prior to it.
Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/target-execs-granted-share-units-one-day-before-canada-retreat/article22998853/
= new reply since forum marked as read
she wasn't in 'the club'. Corporations are very incestuous. Everyone serves on everyone else's BODs, or their spouse does or whatever. It's kind of sick. Like elementary school when kids would create a club that you couldn't belong to. But with money. 
