- 36 -
had annual sales of only approximately $60 million during the
relevant years, it does not appear that any company included in
the ECS survey data had annual sales of less than $150 million.22
Petitioner relies on the opinions of Bruce W. Barren, Ph.D.
(Dr. Barren), the chairman of an international merchant banking
firm, and Joseph D. Vinso, Ph.D. (Dr. Vinso), the president of a
business valuation and consulting firm. We are unwilling to rely
on the analyses or opinions of either of petitioner's experts.
In his expert report, Dr. Barren analyzed the various
factors outlined by the Court of Appeals in Elliotts, Inc. v.
Commissioner, 716 F.2d 1241 (9th Cir. 1983), and concluded that
the compensation paid to Mr. Ruf was reasonable. Dr. Vinso also
applied the factors identified by the Court of Appeals in the
Elliotts case and expressed his opinion as to whether the weight
of those factors shows that the compensation paid by petitioner
to Mr. Ruf was reasonable. That is not the role of an expert,
see Marx & Co. v. Diners' Club Inc., 550 F.2d 505, 508-511 (2d
22 Although Mr. Brennan conducted a telephone survey to deter-
mine the accuracy of his results, we did not find the telephone
survey to be reliable or probative of comparable compensation.
In conducting his telephone survey, Mr. Brennan simply inquired
whether any of the companies he called paid their respective CEOs
compensation in excess of $500,000. However, there was no dis-
cussion during those telephone discussions of what constituted
compensation or whether the work performed by the CEO of each of
those companies was comparable to the work performed by Mr. Ruf.
Nor does the record establish that the companies Mr. Brennan
surveyed by telephone were totally candid and forthcoming about
information relating to their respective CEOs' compensation.
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