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Mooves, Redstone enjoy bumper pay packets at CBS
CBS (CBS) CEO Leslie Moonves received a 7.7% increase in his compensation to $66.9M in 2013, taking his total pay over three years to almost $200M. Moonves latest package included a basic salary of $3.51M, a bonus of $28.5M, stock awards of $26.5M and options of $5.85M. Sumner Redstone, CBS's 90 year old chairman and controlling shareholder, received $57.2M, up 83% from the previous year. Redstone's compensation included a $10M bonus and a $45.4M alteration in the value of his pension. Redstone also earned $36.2M as Chairman of Viacom (VIAB), which he controls as well. The pay increases at CBS come after 2013 net profit climbed over 19% to $1.88B, and the company's stock price jumped 68%. has not yet approved reforms to the IMF that were initially agreed in 2010. The reforms would give more power to emerging nations such as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and double the fund's resources. However, the changes have met opposition in Congress, including over cost.
El Erian: Different styles stopped working well at Pimco
Bill Gross' and Mohamed El Erian's different styles made "very good complements" in serving Pimco's clients and "leading the firm forward through both smooth and rough markets," the latter has told the WSJ. "That worked very well for a long time, until last year." The WSJ describes El Erian as having a "deliberate manner," which contrasted with Gross' "freewheeling style." El Erian's comments come after he resigned in January and following media articles highlighting the break down in the relationship between the men. Still, El Erian maintained that he "always had" and still has "an enormous amount of respect for Bill." El Erian also highlighted the desire to see his family more as another reason why he resigned from Pimco. Pimco's parent company is Allianz (AZSEY). have blamed Russia for the unrest, with John Kerry warning Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that his country would face more consequences if it didn't de escalate tensions and more troops away from the border with Ukraine. Ukraine state run energy company Naftogaz has suspended gas payments to Russia until the countries conclude price negotiations. The move comes after Russia's Gazprom (GZPFY) hiked prices to Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has called on other countries to contribute more to Ukraine's bailout. is extending a $1B loan guarantee to the country, while the international community has formulated a $27B aid package. More on Ukraine ETFs: RSX, RUSL, ERUS, RUSS, RSXJ, RBL, GUR, ESR, RUDR
Draghi: Further euro rise would require more easing
The continued strengthening of the euro "would require further monetary policy accommodation," ECB President Mario Draghi has said. "That's an important dimension for our price stability." Draghi's comments came at a meeting of the IMF and after the euro has increased 6% over the past year to $1.3885. Draghi said that the euro's strength has been an important factor in causing eurozone inflation to drop to 0.5% on year. CPI is even negative in some parts of the bloc, sparking increasing concerns about deflation and prompting the ECB to discuss unconventional policy such as quantitative easing. Meanwhile, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann have tried to talk markets out of being overly excited that the eurozone crisis is over. "It's good that markets have become more confident again," said Schaeuble. "But I've said that in parts they're already exaggerating again."ETFs: FXE, VGK, EUO, FEZ, ERO, EU, IEV, EPV, EUFN, EZU, HEDJ, DRR, FEU, FEP, UPV, EUFX, ULE, ADRU, URR, FEEU, EURL, EURZ, DBEU, FIEU
Documents shed light on how much top GM execs knew about switch defect
Internal GM (GM) documents show that some senior managers knew about the faulty ignition switches that have been linked to 13 deaths long before the company issued a massive recall in February. In October 2012, for example, the chief of all small car development, Jim Federico, received an update about the company's 2005 2007 Cobalt air bag investigation in an email entitled "the Cobalt and Ignition Switch Effort." There's no evidence that new GM CEO Mary Barra was aware of the issue until December 2013, although in 2011, when a GM VP, she did receive correspondence about a power steering problem that had prompted a recall in 2010. The revelations come in 700 pages of documents that the House Energy Commerce committee released on Friday. Meanwhile, in 2007, the head of the defects assessment division at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called for the agency to open a probe into the failure of air bags to deploy in frontal crashes in Cobalts and Ions, but the recommendation was rejected.
Re/code: Amazon prepping two phones, wooing Android developers
Re/code backs up the WSJ in reporting Amazon (AMZN) is set to become a smartphone vendor. Like TechCrunch last October, the site states two phones are being prepped: A high end device and a low end product meant for emerging markets. Amazon is also working on "a mechanism to automatically translate existing Android apps," but it's not ready yet."I don know how they differentiate with Samsung," says one skeptical developer. Still, the capital raise gives plenty of deal making ammo to someone who's proven he knows what to do with it. mobile searches for local information led to offline purchases. Moreover, comScore states "nearly half of all service, restaurant and travel searchers were looking for a business they have never made a purchase from before."In addition to Google, those figures could have positive implications for YELP.
Re/code: Tinder valued at $500M in deal, IAC owns 70%+ stake
Citing "numerous sources close to the situation," re/code reports InterActiveCorp (IACI +0.7%) paid just $55M to buy back an 11% stake in Tinder from VC Chamath Palihapitiya.
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