executive

HTC executive compensation cut by 51 percent after poor year

HTC, the embattled smartphone maker, cut its executive compensation by a ton in 2012.

The company revealed in its 2012 Annual Report on Friday that it paid 660.5 million New Taiwan dollars ($22 million) in total compensation to its executives. The compensation includes salary, retirement pay, bonuses, and profit-sharing, according to the Dow Jones, which was first to report on the figures. The NT$660.5 million is down 51 percent compared to 2011, when the company paid out NT$1.36 billion to its executives.

The decision was made last year as HTC's performance continued to dwindle. … Read more

Not long after promotion, Microsoft's Lees leaves VP role

Andy Lees, Microsoft's vice president of corporate strategy and development and a rising star within the company, has stepped down from the post just months after getting it, according to a new report.

Lees won't be leaving Microsoft altogether, but will go on sabbatical to return to his family in the U.K., All Things Digital is reporting. When he returns, Lees will have a new position within Microsoft. What that position will be, however, is unknown at this point.

Prior to being promoted to vice president to head up corporate development and strategy, Lees led Microsoft's … Read more

Microsoft CIO Tony Scott leaves company for 'personal projects'

Tony Scott, who as chief information officer managed Microsoft's internal IT operations for the past five years, is leaving the company.

The departure of Scott, whose LinkedIn profile describes him as the "former CIO" at the software giant, was announced to staff in an internal memo late last week, according to GeekWire, which first reported the news.

"Tony Scott decided to depart Microsoft to focus on personal projects," Microsoft said in a statement to GeekWire. "While at Microsoft, Tony was a strong IT leader passionate about taking Microsoft's technology to the next level … Read more

Oculus Rift app gives you a full beheading experience

Check out the newest killer app for the Oculus Rift head-mounted display: a guillotine simulator.

Created over the course of two days at Denmark's Exile Game Jam, the Disunion app takes an Oculus Rift wearer to the setting of an 18th century execution, complete with masked executioner and curious crowd. While the player awaits his beheading, he can look around at the stage and blade above him.… Read more

Most execs like patents, Intellectual Ventures study says

Patents are either the scourge of technology, or its savior -- depending on who you talk to.

Intellectual Ventures, a company that has quite a bit invested in the business of patents, talked to more than 200 top executives earlier this year, and now says the majority of those individuals are keen on the idea of patents.

The controversial Bellevue, Wash.-based technology company -- which CNET profiled extensively last August -- released the findings of that study, which is its first, on Monday. It partnered with PR firm Waggener Edstrom and research firm Research Now to accumulate the data. … Read more

Apple's senior execs dominate top 5 best-paid

When it comes to compensation, these days it's good to be one of Apple's top executives.

During Apple's 2012 fiscal year, four of its executives landed in the top five for highest compensation at a Standard & Poor's 500 company. But the folks that made it into that list might surprise you.

According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which collected compensation data from some of the world's top executives, Apple senior vice president of technologies, Bob Mansfield; CFO Peter Oppenheimer; general counsel Bruce Sewell; and operations chief Jeff Williams all made it into the top five for … Read more

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch resigns, headed for Apple

Adobe Systems Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch announced plans today to leave the company and is headed for Apple to become its vice president of technologies.

Adobe says it's not replacing the CTO position, and instead is assigning those responsibilities to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen and SVP Bryan Lamkin.

News of the resignation came inside of a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, though not the move to Apple, which was reported earlier by CNBC.

From Adobe:

Kevin Lynch, Adobe CTO, is leaving the company effective March 22 to take a position at Apple We will … Read more

Samsung adds co-CEOs to company's executive lineup

Fresh from revealing the Galaxy S4, its new flagship smartphone, Samsung announced the addition of two new captains to help run the ship.

Presidents Boo-keun Yoon and JK Shin, who helped unveil the Galaxy S4 during a press event this evening in New York, have been appointed co-chief executive officers in recognition of their contributions to the company's recent string of record quarters. However, they won't be partners in charge; Oh-Hyun Kwon will retain his position as the company's chief chief executive officer and its chairman of the board, Samsung said

"The new leadership structure will … Read more

Obama signs long-awaited cybersecurity executive order

President Obama invoked the pageantry of his State of the Union address this evening to announce a long-anticipated executive order on cybersecurity, a move that caps months of discussions with technology companies and could reduce pressure on Congress to move forward with controversial new legislation.

The order will "strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy," Obama said.

Obama's executive order doesn't propose new and potentially onerous regulations targeting private businesses, which Democrats had proposed in their unsuccessful legislation last year. It also … Read more