By sheer coincidence, McGraw Fellows Mya Frazier and Gary Putka had stories published on November 6 on the homepages of Bloomberg Businessweek and The Washington Post, respectively. Putka’s was in the works for over a year; Frazier’s for just the previous two months.
Putka’s story ran under the headline, Company insiders are selling stock during buyback programs and making additional profits when stock prices jump. And it’s legal. A former editor for The Wall Street Journal based in Boston, he looked at hundreds of CEOs and other top executives who’ve sold their personal shares in the days and weeks following a company-announced stock buyback. The timing of the sales, which led to significantly higher profits for the executives since buyback announcements typically cause a bump in the stock price, has drawn criticism from officials at the Securities and Exchange Commission and executive pay experts.
Frazier’s piece, This State’s 50-Year Bet on Big Tech Could Cost Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, looks at the cost of the tax breaks that midwestern states are offering to attract tech firms. It’s part of a bigger project she’s doing on the impact of tech companies moving into the midwest. The story ran in the Nov. 11 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek.
The McGraw Fellowships for Business Journalism, awarded twice a year, provides experienced journalists with grants up to $15,000 and editorial support to produce high-impact investigative and enterprise stories on critical issues related to the U.S. economy, business or finance. The next deadline to apply is January 31, 2020.
Financed by a $3 million grant from the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Family Foundation, the McGraw Center for Business Journalism was created to support veteran business journalists and train young reporters entering the field.