What they don't say in press releases

There was a bit more to yesterday's ho-hum annoucement that the two co-CEOs of L.A.-based Guess would be getting new roles. The press release noted that Maurice Marciano would now be chairman and Paul Marciano would be CEO and vice chairman. Well, it turns out that in addition to the new jobs there are new employment contracts. An 8-K filed on Monday provides a few details, such as both brothers getting a base salary of $1 million; an annual incentive bonus of up to 225 percent of base salary for Maurice (and up to 300 percent for Paul); an annual grant of restricted shares of Guess stock (assuming performance goals are met); and stock options. Oh, and the board's compensation committee "may, in its sole discretion, award additional bonuses," according to the filing, which was first posted by Michelle Leder at footnoted.org. Leder notes that the filing does not include the actual contracts. But don't get too hot and bothered - the Marcianos would seem like relative bargains considering that the company has seen a 1-year return of 75.5 percent. In 2005, Paul took home $6.4 million and Maurice $3 million. In today's corporate world, that's lunch money.