Kara Swisher

Recent Posts by Kara Swisher

The Palm Anti-Brain-Drain Filings: Collect the Entire Set!

As short as the following filings from Palm yesterday are, they say a lot about the current forecast for the troubled handset maker, which is reportedly seeking a buyer:

Cloudy with a definite chance of talent exodus.

In an 8-K regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Palm (PALM) revealed that software head Michael Abbott will be gone by the end of next week.

This is a big move, as Abbott was in charge of development for software and services and the chief cheerleader for its webOS.

To stop other top execs from racing for the exits, Palm finds that it needs to slather on two-year retention packages, including large cash bonuses and restricted stock units.

The company filed plans to do that for six of its top managers: CFO Douglas Jeffries; SVP of Global Operations Jeffrey Devine; SVP of Product Development Michael Bell; SVP Worldwide Sales Dave Whalen; SVP of Brand Design Jeffrey Zwerner; and SVP of Product Marketing Kate Mitic.

Apparently, other execs were also loaded up, without the need for filings.

In any case, you can see it all below in black and white:

8-K


8-k

Jeffries


jeffries

Devine


devine

Bell


bell

Whalen


whalen

Zwerner


zwerner

Mitic


mitic

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Another gadget you don’t really need. Will not work once you get it home. New model out in 4 weeks. Battery life is too short to be of any use.

— From the fact sheet for a fake product entitled Useless Plasticbox 1.2 (an actual empty plastic box) placed in L.A.-area Best Buy stores by an artist called Plastic Jesus