Exiting Windstream
exec to receive $3M
Windstream Holdings Inc.'s former chief executive officer will receive $3 million when he leaves the Little Rock company next year, the company said in a filing.
Jeff Gardner, who resigned last week from the position he has held since 2006, will receive the lump sum along with 250,000 shares of Windstream's stock within five days of leaving the company.
The value of the performance-based restricted shares will be based on the company's stock price when they are vested. Windstream's shares closed Monday at $8.50 on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Gardner, who is now a senior advisor to Tony Thomas, his replacement, will leave the company Feb. 1.
Thomas' annual salary will not be less then $1 million and his bonus opportunity will not be less than 125 percent of his salary, according to the filing.
-- Jessica Seaman
Norselli named chief
of Baxter Bulletin
Daniel Norselli has been named president and publisher of the Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home and the Springfield News-Leader in Springfield, Mo.
Both newspapers are owned by Gannett Co., a media and marketing organization with multiple brands including USA Today.
In a release, Laura Hollingsworth, central group president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, said Norselli has a successful track record.
Norselli was senor digital sales director for the Democrat & Chronicle Media Group in Rochester, N.Y. Before that, Norselli was global strategic sales director for Monster Worldwide Inc., the parent company for employment website Monster, where he was in charge of digital sales and services.
The Baxter Bulletin is a six-day-a-week newspaper serving Baxter County in north-central Arkansas. It is the only Gannett newspaper in Arkansas. The Springfield News-Leader is a daily newspaper serving southwest Missouri.
-- John Magsam
State index up 0.75;
Dillard's rises 2.3%
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 0.75 to 374.82 Monday.
"The financial markets closed lower as a mixed bag of economic data was overshadowed by the continuing and precipitous decline in the price of oil," said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock. "Despite the pullback, Arkansas stocks were mixed."
Dillard's gained 2.3 percent in active trading, Williams said.
On the downside, Acxiom fell almost 2.5 percent on average volume, Williams said.
Total volume for the index was 27 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 12/16/2014