Criticism
In 2002, Duke Energy was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Economics for "adapting the mathematical concept of imaginary numbers for use in the business world".
In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Duke Energy for spending $17.47 million on lobbying and not paying any taxes during 2008 through 2010 and receiving $216 million in tax rebates, despite making a profit of $5.4 billion and increasing executive pay by 145% to $17.2 million in 2010 for its top 5 executives. The company has recently become the object of protest for its close relationship to the Democratic Party and its funding for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
In July 2012, Duke Energy was criticized for paying former Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson $44 million in compensation, including $10 million severance, for essentially 20 minutes on the job as Duke CEO. On July 10, new CEO Jim Rogers spoke before the N.C. Utilities Commission, explaining the reason for Johnson's dismissal as "loss of confidence". He also mentioned an "autocratic style", though some former Progress directors disagreed.
Read more about this topic: Duke Energy
Famous quotes containing the word criticism:
“Good criticism is very rare and always precious.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“People try so hard to believe in leaders now, pitifully hard. But we no sooner get a popular reformer or politician or soldier or writer or philosopher—a Roosevelt, a Tolstoy, a Wood, a Shaw, a Nietzsche, than the cross-currents of criticism wash him away. My Lord, no man can stand prominence these days. It’s the surest path to obscurity. People get sick of hearing the same name over and over.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world—though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst—the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)