Exchange Commission

There is a story about the day Babe Ruth was asked why he made more money than the president, Herbert Hoover. His answer characteristically was direct: "Because I had a better year."But today there is growing evidence from the top of major American corporations that this Ruthian logic is passe.In the last few months, with the release of the annual reports of publicly held corporations in the United States, we have seen reports of huge pay packages for top executives and directors of many leading companies -- not only at profitable companies, but also at companies with declining earnings or, indeed, with major losses.

Utah lawyer favored for SECA veteran Utah lawyer is the apparent front-runner for a Republican seat on the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will have three vacancies at the end of the month.Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is formally backing Norman S. Johnson, 64, of Salt Lake City to join the five-member commission, Hatch spokesman Paul Smith said yesterday. Mr. Johnson said Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., forwarded his name to President Clinton in a May 16 letter.Comsat considers stock saleComsat Corp.

Baltimore financial services company eChapman Inc. said it earned a first-quarter profit of $245,000, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $1.7 million. That compares with a loss of $1.6 million, or 13 cents a share, on revenue of $1.4 million in last year's first quarter. The company attributed the improved results to cutting costs and a revised strategy that de-emphasizes Internet operations. As part of the moves, eChapman is seeking a buyer for NetNoir, an African-American-oriented Internet portal the company agreed to acquire last July, General Counsel James P. Wu said yesterday.

Investor AB, a well-known Swedish holding company that is targeting education investments, has purchased a 5 percent stake in Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. of Baltimore.Stockholm-based Investor holds stakes in some of Sweden's largest multinational companies, including Astra AB, Ericsson LM Telephone Co. and Scania AB. Several years ago, the investment company decided to diversify into small and medium-size businesses engaged in the health care, information technology and education fields.

Continuing its efforts to sell assets to pay down debt, Integrated Health Services of Owings Mills said yesterday that it has sold 11 nursing homes in three transactions totaling about $60 million.Integrated has sold several facilities during recent months -- as many as 44 at a time -- but has continued to run them under management contracts. In the latest deals, Integrated will not operate the homes it sold."We had announced we would sell some nonstrategic assets to pay down debt," said Marc B. Levin, executive vice president.

Joseph Jett, the dismissed Kidder, Peabody & Co. managing director, asserted his innocence in court filings yesterday and demanded that the firm release nearly $5 million frozen in his accounts.Kidder has refused to release the money since accusing Mr. Jett last month of creating $350 million in phantom trades to conceal trading losses and to inflate his 1993 bonus of $9 million."Mr. Jett vehemently denies any wrongdoing," his lawyers said in papers filed with the New York Supreme Court and the National Association of Securities Dealers.

NEW YORK -- Stock in Micros Systems Inc. fell almost 8 percent yesterday after Westinghouse Electric Corp. said it might sell part or all of its 62 percent stake in the company.Analyst Bill Loomis of Ferris, Baker Watts said the possibility of Westinghouse selling its shares in the Beltsville-based maker of electronic cash register terminals might make investors nervous.People answering the telephones at Westinghouse and Micros said the corporate offices were closed for the Christmas holiday weekend.

In the Region FDA requests more data about MedImmune vaccine MedImmune Inc. said yesterday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested more information about its inhalable influenza vaccine, FluMist. The Gaithersburg biotechnology company, which is seeking FDA approval for FluMist, received from the FDA a complete response letter. The FDA has requested clarification and more information about data the company had sent it about the vaccine. The FDA did not ask for any more clinical trials, the company said.

THE INDICTMENT of former Enron chief executive Kenneth L. Lay dredges up unpleasant memories that many investors can't shake. It's a good moment to mark the four-year anniversary of a genuine reform that made the financial world a lot friendlier. In 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted Regulation FD (fair disclosure). Widely denounced at the time by Wall Street and corporate America, Regulation FD exposed one of the big lies that governs the stock market: Exclusivity brings liquidity.

The latest investment fad, known as ETFs, may have to change its name from exchange traded funds. If financial engineers and Wall Street marketing wizards have their way, ETFs will be known as "everything that fits." The first and still most popular ETFs are simple baskets of stocks representing well-known stock indexes such as the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq 100 index. Shares of the basket trade continuously, like common shares, on stock exchanges. Most mutual funds can be bought or sold just once a day. ETFs, as initially conceived, have many advantages over traditional mutual funds, including lower fees, tax efficiency and, in light of recent mutual fund scandals, less susceptibility to costly human foibles.