SEC Company Response from AT&T INC. (T, TBB, TBC, T-PA, T-PC) (CIK 0000732717) (T) — Nov 30, 2007
AT&T INC. (T, TBB, TBC, T-PA, T-PC) (CIK 0000732717)
Date: Nov. 30, 2007 · CIK: 0000732717 · Accession: 0000732717-07-000104
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
Referenced dates: September 28, 2007
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[AT&T
Inc. Letterhead]
Wayne A. Wirtz
Associate General Counsel
Legal Department
175 E. Houston, Room 205
San Antonio, Texas 78205
(210) 351-3736
November
30, 2007
Kathleen
Krebs, Special Counsel
Division of
Corporation Finance
Mail Stop
3720
Securities
and Exchange Commission
Washington,
D.C. 20549
Re:
AT&T Inc.
Definitive Schedule 14A
Filed March 22, 2007
File No. 1-08610
Dear
Ms. Krebs:
We are
pleased to respond to the comments of the Staff, dated September 28, 2007. We have repeated
your comments below, followed by our responses.
Board of Directors, page 3
Compensation of Directors, page 6
1.
Disclose all assumptions made in the valuation of awards in
the stock awards and option awards columns of the director compensation table
by reference to a discussion of those assumptions in your financial statements,
footnotes to the financial statements, or discussion in management’s
discussion and analysis. See the Instruction to Regulation S-K Item 402(k),
which refers to Instruction I to Item 402(c)(2)(v) and (vi).
The stock awards noted in the Director Compensation Table are in the form of
phantom stock units, each equal in value to a share of stock. As noted in Footnote 2 to the
table (page 9), the units are immediately vested, and under FAS 123R are valued at the fair
market value of the underlying stock on the grant date. As a result, no assumptions are
used in determining the value of the grant. FAS 123R calls for the stock units to be valued
using the fair value of the underlying stock on the grant date, which process we disclosed
in the footnote. Therefore, we believe no additional disclosure is required.
2.
Disclose the aggregate number of stock awards and the
aggregate number of option awards outstanding at fiscal year end held by each
of those directors, as required in the Instruction to Item 402(k)(2)(iii) and
(iv).
Stock units granted to directors by AT&T are immediately and
unconditionally vested, but are not distributed until after they leave the board. Because
the awards are fully vested and are non-forfeitable, we do not regard them as awards that
continue to be outstanding after the grant is made. We believe this is consistent with Item
402(f), which treats only unexercised options and unvested awards as outstanding. This also
is the same treatment we afford compensation that is otherwise voluntarily deferred in the
form of stock units. As a result, we do not list the vested stock awards as
“outstanding” in a footnote. These amounts are combined under the column
entitled “Non-Voting Stock Units” in the Beneficial Ownership Table on page
11.
Certain directors hold unvested stock units and unexercised options that
were originally issued by companies acquired by AT&T. These awards are disclosed in
Footnote 3 to the Director Compensation table. Because the options disclosed in Footnote 3
are exercisable within 60 days, they are also disclosed in Footnote 1 to the Beneficial
Ownership Table on page 11.
Compensation Committee, page 30
3.
You disclose on page 30 that the analysis presented to you by
your compensation consultant considered “market data from four separate
groups of companies,” but you identify only the companies that comprised
the comparator group. Identify all of the companies in the other three groups
that you considered for benchmarking purposes. Also identify the companies in
the North American Telecom Index against which you benchmarked the long-term
incentive compensation of your chief executive officer. Discuss how the human
resources committee considered the levels and elements of the benchmarkcd
companies’ compensation in determining the various levels and elements of
your executive compensation. See Regulation S-K Item 402(b)(2)(xiv). Please
disclose the actual 0compensation as a percentile of the peer group data and,
where the actual percentile differs from the target, explain
why.
AT&T will disclose the identities of the companies in the comparator
groups.
Please note that AT&T compares the total stockholder return of companies
in the North American Telcom Index against the total stockholder return of AT&T to
determine a portion of the payout of the CEO’s long term awards. It does not
otherwise use the North American Telecom Index for compensation purposes, either as a
benchmark or otherwise. That index is solely used as a comparison for total market return;
however, AT&T intends to list each of the entities used for this purpose in future
filings.
You ask us to discuss in the proxy statement “how the human resources
committee considered the levels and elements of the benchmarked companies’
compensation.” The various compensation amounts paid at the four comparison groups
are not used as benchmarks. As discussed on Pages 30 and 31, the consultant does compile
market compensation data from the four comparison groups (e.g., Fortune 25 and 50). The
particular percentiles of the market used by the consultant are described beginning on page
32, under the separate descriptions of the types of compensation paid. From this data, the
consultant applies his experience and judgment and makes a recommendation for preliminary
market values for each executive position. The consultant then incorporates the views of
management with respect to the relative value of each AT&T-specific executive position
and makes a final market value recommendation for each such position. This may include
making adjustments based on differences between the responsibilities of the
AT&T-specific position and the market position. The recommendations of the consultant
along with the compensation recommendations of the CEO are then presented to the Human
Resources Committee. After reviewing this information, the Committee applies its experience
and judgment to determine the compensation of the named executive officers. AT&T
believes the process has been fully explained in the proxy statement and, therefore, no
additional information is needed, although it intends to revise the presentation to improve
clarity wherever possible.
You ask us to disclose the compensation as a percentile of the peer group
data. As noted above, the positions at AT&T are not benchmarked against any particular
peer group. Moreover, because the consultant uses multiple comparison groups in making
recommendations, no one of the groups acts as a key “peer group” that can be
used as the comparative measurement. As a result, we do not believe it would be appropriate
or material to report compensation as a percentile of any such peer group.
Compensation Discussion and Analysis, page 32
Compensation, page 32
4.
On page 32 you state that the human resources committee
“sets compensation levels based on the skills, experience and
achievements of each executive officer....” On pages 33 and 35 you make
similar statements about how the compensation committee makes
individually-tailored and “relative value” determinations as they
relate to incentive compensation. Please disclose more specifically how the
committee’s consideration of these individual performance, subjective and
other mentioned factors resulted in specific compensation decisions for 2006.
See Regulation S-K Item 402(b)(2)(vii).
The final determination of the compensation of executive officers is in the
hands of the Committee. As described more fully above, the process begins with the
consultant recommending an AT&T-specific market value for each executive position,
using both external and internal information. The market value is comprised of salary,
short term target compensation and long term target compensation. For positions other than
the CEO, the consultant confers with management, including the CEO, about the relevant
value of each executive position and then recommends a final AT&T-specific market value
for each such position. The CEO makes compensation recommendations to the Committee for
each executive officer based on a non-formulaic review of the overall experience and
performance of each individual. Where a determinable amount of compensation is paid for a
particular performance, AT&T intends to disclose such relationship. AT&T will
clarify the process in the Compensation Discussion and Analysis.
5.
With respect to Mr.
Stephenson’s incentive compensation, describe the
factors the chief executive officer considered in recommending his
compensation, clarify whether Mr.
Stephenson needed to achieve quantitative performance targets
in order for him to reach a particular level of payment, describe the specific
aspects of his individual performance that led the committee to award incentive
compensation to him in the amount and manner in which it did, and describe any
specific exercises of discretion as it relates to his short-term incentive
award. Please include additional disclosure as appropriate for each named
executive officer.
We will clarify that in recommending compensation, including target
incentive compensation, for a named officer (other than the CEO), the CEO takes into
account a non-formulaic evaluation of the experience and performance of each such named
officer. The proxy statement discloses the performance measures applicable to
Mr. Stephenson’s incentive awards. While Mr. Stephenson did receive a
discretionary bonus, it was not tied to a specific item of performance but rather to a
general overall evaluation of his performance. AT&T does not believe attempting to
further parse these determinations would be meaningful to investors. However, in the event
a payment is made for a specifically identifiable item of performance, AT&T intends to
disclose the payment and the performance that led to the payment.
Short-Term Incentives, page 33
6.
For each named executive officer, please disclose all targets
or performance objectives, both quantitative and qualitative, that the
committee considers in determining a named executive officer’s
compensation. For example, disclose your customer satisfaction and customer
churn targets, the “aggressive year-overyear revenue targets”
you refer to on page 33 that can lead to increased short-term awards, the
threshold, target, and maximum performance levels related to longterm
incentive compensation, and the performance objectives tied to the various
special grants disclosed on pages 34 and 36. To the extent you
believe that disclosure of these targets is not required because it would
result in competitive harm such that you may omit this information under Instruction 4 to
Item 402(b) of Regulation S-K, please provide in your response letter a detailed
explanation for such conclusion. Also, disclose how difficult it would be for the executive
or how likely it would be for you to achieve the undisclosed performance targets. General
statements regarding the level of difficulty or ease associated with achieving the targets
are not sufficient. In discussing how difficult it will be for an executive or how likely
it will be for you to achieve the target and threshold levels or other factors, provide as
much detail as necessary without providing information that would result in competitive
harm. To the extent the targets are not stated in quantitative terms, explain how the
committee determines the officer’s achievement levels for that performance
measure.
AT&T does disclose its free cash flow and net income portions of the
short term award, which represented 80% of the payout target for 2006. We will also
disclose any revenue targets that affect the payout. As we note in our response to comment
No. 8 below, AT&T does not currently have threshold payout targets, but will disclose
them if they exist in the future.
As to the disclosure of customer satisfaction targets, AT&T notes that
the customer satisfaction measurement represents only 10% of the short term target awards,
causing the information to lack materiality to investors. Disclosure of customer
satisfaction targets (which are not otherwise disclosed) will inform competitors of our
marketing goals and strategic objectives and could further be used against us in their
marketing strategies. However, ATT would not have similar information to use in response.
In our view, these circumstances alone justify that the information is exempt from
disclosure. Moreover, public evaluation of this goal could discourage the company from a
candid review of its operations for fear of competitors using the information against the
company.
Similarly, AT&T does not disclose its churn targets, which also
represents only 10% of the target payout and is not material to investors. As with customer
satisfaction, disclosure of the churn targets could telegraph to competitors the
company’s intentions on marketing efforts and goals. AT&T believes this
information will enable competitors to discover shifts in company strategies and allow
competitors to develop responses.
AT&T does not disclose its long term measure of return on invested
capital. Disclosure of this metric will give competitors insight into the company’s
direction on pricing and deployment of capital intensive services and offerings, and may
provide them advance warning on major company movements.
Finally, AT&T notes that it does not disclose projections involving
acquisitions, such as in connection with performance shares that have targets based on
results from the acquisition of AT&T Corp, as described on page 36. AT&T believes
that disclosure of the projections will give competitors information on how AT&T values
transacti