Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

nltimes.nl

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 346 posts

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#191

Post by SubiculumCode »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #151

Covid has got me thinking about the government’s role in social welfare. Providing social welfare through money allows for people to misallocate the money or skim off the top of the money. For the vast majority of people their covid stimulation money did not go into their pockets, it went to their landlord or their mortgage holder resulting in a massive wealth transfer from public funds to banks and those who own lan…

"For the vast majority of people their covid stimulation money did not go into their pockets, it went to their landlord or their mortgage holder " you have evidence for that, other than people catching up on late rent/mortgage payments?

Governments miss-allocate things all the time, and its a lack of trust of citizens to do what is in their own best interest. It is a position that really limits the utility of government as a source of stimulus by a desire for control, a desire that a free people do not want to give in to.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#192

Post by jiofih »

nielsbot wrote: post #53
TheRealPomax wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one would be surprised if this was about the US, but it's that "euro" symbol that makes it surprising.

The execs who benefited are US-based: "As a result, the total remuneration for the three-member U.S. board of parent company Booking Holdings last year converted to more than 28 million euros. Some 5.8 million euros in shares and cash went to CEO Glenn Fogel, and 2.8 million euros went to Peter Millones, the vice president. Nearly 20 million euros, mostly in shares, went to CFO David Goulden, according to company doc…

And employees’ bonus were reduced due to a hard year. And there were layoffs.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#193

Post by donmcronald »

Jiocus wrote: post #133

The title is almost underwhelming in severity (which is a refreshing break from sensationalistic headlines), “[€28m in bonuses] even after taking three billion euros in loans last year, and 100 million euros in State aid including 65 million from the Netherlands. The company also let go of thousands of people during the coronavirus pandemic.” Booking.com isn't alone engaging in these practices. Many corporations seem…

IMHO the aid should have been loans only and executive bonuses should have gone to the government as collateral. If the company pays back the loan, the executives get their bonus.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#194

Post by missedthecue »

birken wrote: post #93
mdorazio wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and what did those employees who would have otherwise been unemployed spend their money on? Likely rent was the #1 item, thus transferring wealth from tax dollars to asset holders.

I'm sure the employees would much rather have been laid off to stick it to the asset holders.

I have come to realize that many people are haunted by the constant fear that someone somewhere might be making a profit.

I think it's a great thing and a credit to our institutions that millions of citizens of my country weren't evicted last March and April. Who cares if landlords got paid for rent or if a bank received a mortgage payment?

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#195

Post by quickthrowman »

__turbobrew__ wrote: post #151

Covid has got me thinking about the government’s role in social welfare. Providing social welfare through money allows for people to misallocate the money or skim off the top of the money. For the vast majority of people their covid stimulation money did not go into their pockets, it went to their landlord or their mortgage holder resulting in a massive wealth transfer from public funds to banks and those who own lan…

A lot of PPP loans in my industry were passed through to the owners as dividends/profit taking, as they didn’t actually need the loans since we were all busy. Small/medium business owners in slightly affected industries got RICH last year.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#196

Post by nradov »

asdff wrote: post #187
nradov wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No thanks. I am unwilling to pay taxes to perpetually support people who are capable of working but choose not to.

When did you stop paying taxes? 300 B.C.?

The key word there is "perpetually". In the US welfare payments and other social support programs are usually time limited for recipients who aren't disabled.

I have no problem with government supports for people who actually work but still can't afford basic necessities. Just don't ask me to pay for non-disabled people to sit around all day.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#197

Post by krono »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #139
krono wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is exactly what was done here in the Netherlands. Booking.com just decided to exploit and, in my opinion, abuse that system. Edit: These emergency financial support measures I was referring to are: - "Temporary emergency scheme for job retention" (NOW) - "Temporary self-employment income support and loan scheme" (TOZO) - "Reimbursement Fixed Costs" (TVL) More info (in English) on gov websites: - https://www.gove…

NOW appears to pay businesses up-front for, in turn, continuing to pay employees: https://business.gov.nl/subsidy/corona-crisis-temporary-emer... Arguably, it would've been a much better system if the Netherlands just... paid people directly regardless of who they worked for at the time, so employers didn't need to worry about paying employees while they couldn't do normal business.

Yeah the systems are far from perfect. They're inefficient, in some cases unfair, and with regards to abuse perhaps rely a little too much on good faith.

Nevertheless the systems do exist. Financial aid was and even still is there for you or your business if you need it.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#198

Post by [deleted] »

andrepd wrote: post #159
tracer4201 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to convince you this isn’t a good idea. If all the businesses shut down in my town or city, what happens after? Where do I find work? Especially if I don’t have sufficient capital to start a new business (never mind the skills or training), what will I do then? How does society go back to normal? Do we stop all output and just have the government mail checks to every individual forever? That’s not going to wor…

Please re-read the comment. > They could temporarily lay off all their staff So you pay people's salaries while they're furloughed. Together with moratoria (don't know if this is the word) on loans this means companies get “paused” while lockdowns are ongoing and don't shut down.

[deleted]

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#199

Post by missedthecue »

andrepd wrote: post #159
tracer4201 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to convince you this isn’t a good idea. If all the businesses shut down in my town or city, what happens after? Where do I find work? Especially if I don’t have sufficient capital to start a new business (never mind the skills or training), what will I do then? How does society go back to normal? Do we stop all output and just have the government mail checks to every individual forever? That’s not going to wor…

Please re-read the comment. > They could temporarily lay off all their staff So you pay people's salaries while they're furloughed. Together with moratoria (don't know if this is the word) on loans this means companies get “paused” while lockdowns are ongoing and don't shut down.

Temporarily in the context of covid has meant more than 12 months for a variety of local shops and businesses in my area. They can't come swinging back signing leases and buying inventory after going bankrupt.

Re: Booking.com gives €28m in bonuses to three top execs; Took €65m in State aid

#200

Post by dehrmann »

savant_penguin wrote: post #7

The real error here is public money being given to private companies. Let them break Fund people, not companies

> Let them break

There are all sorts of random shortages right now--truckers, lumber, cars, rental cars, computer chips. They're mostly annoying, but it would be a lot worse if companies didn't get help.

Post reply on HN