Big Money and Bullies always get their 
way. Ain’t that right Boss Hogg? Today Blockbuster’s (BBI) CEO John Antioco will leave by the end of the year (Uncle Jessy for this story) and agreed to a smaller 2006 bonus and resolved a dispute over his pay package. Billionaire investor and director Carl Icahn (Boss Hogg in this story) tried to kick out Antioco from the board during a 2005 proxy battle and called his $54M severance package at the time "unconscionable." Well, looks like that all worked out. As you know fellow Masters, we love the Icahn. He knows how to throw his money and weight around just like he has done at American Railcar (ARII) and everywhere else he goes. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said:
"My guess is that as long as Antioco is there, they don’t change anything. The impact should be positive short term, because … Icahn wants the share price to go up. I really think Icahn just is impatient. He is not a long-term investor." So what does Antioco get? Don’t feel bad for him, he will receive a salary of $1.25M, a $2,025,000 bonus, a bottle of moonshine, and deferred compensation of $1.45M. Icahn’s gets even a bigger ego and the "badass of the week award". Ya’ll come back now, ya hear.
Palm (PALM) is expecting a buyout this week, they are saying shares could fetch $20, it’s trading at just below $19 today. The price tag for Palmmy is a nice $2B (maybe Boss Hogg will buy them) and the sale could happen this week. "Sources" have previously told Reuters that Palm hired Morgan Stanley to pursue a buyer. Unstrung said that Morgan Stanley wanted to wrap up a deal by Thursday, when Palm is scheduled to report quarterly results.
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