1.Monsanto makes "most influential" list
2.Monsanto CEO made $15 million last year

EXTRACT: Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen argues that [Monsanto]'s "light years" ahead of rivals, noting that "if you don't have Monsanto's seeds for soybeans, you can't compete [because] the yield per acre is so much better." (item 1)

NOTE: This Harvard Business School professor clearly knows zilch about the agronomics but his hyperbole beautifully illustrates the power of viral marketing.

Studies have repeatedly shown that however attractive to many US farmers Roundup-Ready soybeans may be, the one thing they don't do is increase yield. There are, in fact, no commercialized GM crops that inherently increase yield, and studies show GM soya has suffered reduced yield!*

Monsanto, incidentally, is currently trading around half the all-time peak reached in June, a fate it shares with Syngenta.

*See, for instance: Glyphosate-resistant soyabean cultivar yields compared with sister lines, Elmore, R.W. et al., Agronomy Journal, Vol. 93, No. 2, 2001, pp. 408 412
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1.Monsanto makes "most influential" list
By David Nicklaus
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 December 2008
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/mound-city-money/uncategorized/2008/12/monsanto-makes-most-influential-list/

Monsanto belongs on a list of the world's 10 most influential companies, Business Week says in the current issue. The rest of the list: Apple, Google, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, News Corp., Saudi Aramco, Toyota, Unilever and Wal-Mart.

The magazine's short profile of Monsanto begins with a word that company executives hate: Frankenfood. It continues, though, in more complementary terms:

While the biotech food giant and world's top seed seller has its share of detractors, few would dispute Monsanto's influence on the global food chain. About 97% of U.S. soy is now grown using Monsanto technology, and the company’s insect- and herbicide-resistant corn and cotton have become the default standard for U.S. farmers. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen argues that it's “light years” ahead of rivals, noting that “if you don’t have Monsanto’s seeds for soybeans, you can’t compete [because] the yield per acre is so much better.”
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2.Monsanto CEO made $15 million last year
By David Nicklaus
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11 December 2008 [shortened]
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/mound-city-money/st-louis-companies/2008/12/monsanto-ceo-made-15-million-last-year/

Monsanto’s proxy statement, filed last week, credits Chief Executive Hugh Grant with  $15.6 million of total compensation in the latest fiscal year, up from $11.0 million in fiscal 2007. Grant’s salary rose 10 percent, to $1.29 million, and his annual bonus rose 12 percent to $3.33 million, which was close to the maximum he could earn for “outstanding” performance.

Also on Grant’s pay tally sheet were $3.9 million worth of stock and $6.4 million worth of options, but those were accounting-driven figures for awards he has received over the years. During the fiscal year, he got restricted stock units worth $3.5 million and new options valued at $4.4 million. His perquisites included $110,543 worth of personal aircraft use, along with $23,844 for home security, club dues, and tickets to cultural and sporting events.

If Grant loses his job following a change of control, he’s entitled to more than $40 million. That includes severance of $11 million, and $26 million for his options and restricted stock units.