Hasta La Gadget!

Top executives at major for-profit colleges take in millions of dollars in annual compensation — primarily from taxpayer subsidies -– yet most of their pay is unrelated to student achievement, according to preliminary findings from a congressional investigation.

The report from Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee, found that publicly traded college corporations calculate executive compensation “predominantly on the profitability of their companies rather than the success of their students.”

“This is especially troubling given the billions of taxpayer dollars flowing into these institutions and the serious financial risks to students who go through these programs,” the report concluded.

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The Vatican dealt a huge blow to the Bay Area’s fight for gay rights on Friday, naming Salvatore Cordileone–one of the California’s leading opponents of same-sex marriage and a creator of Proposition 8–the Archbishop of San Francisco.

Cordileone has served as the bishop of Oakland since 2009. In a Vatican announcement on Friday morning, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Cordileone to his new post across the Bay.

“I am pleased to welcome Archbishop-elect Cordileone,” said the departing Archbishop George Niederauer during the announcement. “And to assure him of our prayers, loyalty, support and cooperation, as well as our friendship and affection.”

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DOLPH LUNDGREN. COMMUNISTS. STEROIDS. OLYMPICS. More »

Sir Paul McCartney was one of the many famous faces to take the stage during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. With him, the legendary Beatle brought a chorus of cheers and beaming smiles to Danny Boyle’s “Isles of Wonder.”

McCartney opened with “The End,” one of the classics from the Beatles’ decorated catalogue. “And in the end. The love you take is equal to the love you make,” McCartney crooned, before launching into a sing-a-long version of “Hey Jude.” At his piano, McCartney, now 70, managed to light up the entire Olympic stadium, as athletes from every country — and the crowd — sang along to every word. McCartney proved why he’s a legend in the business by taking full command of the enthusiastic audience.

The Olympic Opening Ceremonies were organized by filmmaker Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire”), and featured a varied musical setlist of over 70 of Britain’s biggest hits, from The Rolling Stones (“Satisfaction”) to rapper Dizzee Rascal (“Bonkers”) and yes, The Beatles (“She Loves You”).

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Things just went from bad to worse for some of the folks at Zynga. Earlier this week the company delivered a less-than-stellar quarterly financial report, and now Ars Technica is reporting that some executives and shareholders are under investigation for dumping over $500 million in stock before the bad news hit and Zynga’s stock price took a dive. In other words, a few Zynga higher-ups could be in a whole lot of trouble.

The word “could” is key here, as you naturally can’t get in trouble for just selling off your shares. What five law firms want to find out, however, is whether or not these people sold off their stock with the knowledge that a bad quarterly report was on the way. The sell-off evidently occurred back in April, when Zynga’s stock was selling at $12 per share. These days, thanks in part to that underwhelming report for Q2, it’s selling at only $3 per share, so you can see why law firms are interested in the circumstances surrounding the sell-off.

Some of Zynga’s biggest players are being investigated, including CEO Mark Pincus, COO John Schappert, and CFO Dave Wehner. Strange as it may seem, Google is also included in this investigation, along with a number of venture capital firms. Zynga has yet to be hit with a lawsuit, but Ars points out that with so many law firms conducting the investigation, it may not belong before the company finds itself dealing with a class-action lawsuit from investors. If that happens, it’ll be nothing but bad news for the social games maker, so stay tuned.

Zynga hit with investigation over questionable stock sell-off is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
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