CNBC Chairman Owns 15,000 Shares Of Pharmaceutical Co., Despite Company Policy

The New York Times beat me to it: “At CNBC, Only the Boss Is Allowed to Own Stock.” On May 18, CNBC “chairman” Pamela Thomas-Graham joined the board of Idenix Pharmaceuticals and received 15,000 stock options — despite a company policy insisting that ALL CNBC employees AND their spouses divest of all individual stocks.

In an e-mail to TVNewser last week, a CNBC employee called it a “clear violation of the policy we’ve all (from us in management to makeup artists and camera crews) been asked to uphold,” and said “the staff is enraged, including the blind writer who asked to be given special dispensation for obvious reasons and was flat out told NO by her.”

The NYT has a statement from spokeswoman Kathy Kelly-Brown: “As CNBC chairman, Pamela Thomas-Graham is responsible for strategic planning and for identifying major growth opportunities for the brand. In this role, she is in no way responsible for or in any way involved in deciding the network’s day-to-day content or coverage.” She added that NBC Universal’s management had “made an exception and approved the appointment” before Thomas-Graham joined the board…

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.