Category: severance agreement

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severance agreement

Mark Hurd Severance Agreement

Five years ago, Mark Hurd joined Hewlett-Packard as its President and Chief Executive Officer. Late Friday afternoon, I saw on Twitter – of all places – that Mark Hurd had resigned. Even though the tweet linked to a web page that provided excerpts from a press release, HP had not yet updated its executive team web page. Bad form when you get scooped by Twitter. Well, the word is that Mark Hurd had violated HP’s Standards of Business Conduct. HP also disclosed Mark Hurd’s Separation Agreement and Release. And, for comparison, Carly Fiorina’s Severance Agreement.

Update: See Levine v. Andreesen et al. for the shareholder derivative complaint that the Mark Hurd severance agreements constitutes a waste of corporate assets.

Update: On September 20, 2010, HP announced that it had settled its litigation against Mark Hurd for breach of contract and threatened misappropriation of trade secrets in connection with Mark Hurd’s employment with Oracle Corporation. As part of the settlement, Mark Hurd waived his rights to the 330,177 performance-based restricted stock units granted in January 17, 2008 and to the 15,853 time-based restricted stock units granted on December 11, 2009.

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severance agreement

Sub-Prime Surprise

Each day, the sub-prime lending miscalculation is looking more and more like a repeat of the dot.com meltdown. First, the fringe companies fall. Then a few name brand companies are claimed. Finally, the blue chips take their hit. I’ve updated the Citigroup contracts to include the Charles Prince’s Severance Agreement.

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severance agreement

A No-Lose Situation

New York Times DealBook: Sovereign Ex-Chief Says His Exit Was ‘Misinterpreted’. When Jay Sidhu resigned as chief executive of Sovereign Bancorp last October amid pressure from investors over his deal-making, the Philadelphia-based bank said he was leaving for “family health reasons.” Later, though, Sovereign disclosed in regulatory filings that Mr. Sidhu had faced “threatened termination by the company without cause.”

I’ve added Sovereign Bancorp Inc. contracts to the site. Items of interest include the “Retirement Agreement” between Sovereign and Jay Sidhu, as well as the Settlement Agreement between Sovereign and Relational Investors. Since when do you threaten to terminate someone, then turnaround and handout a 3 year consulting gig for $40,000 per month? If you’re thinking that he will toiling away for a mere $40,000 a month, think again. “Executive’s duties shall not exceed 40 hours per month of consultation….” Should we all be so lucky.

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severance agreement

West Leaves Weisel

DealBook: Thomas Weisel C.F.O. to Resign. Thomas Weisel Partners, the technology-oriented investment bank that went public a year ago, said that its chief financial officer, Robert K. West, would leave the firm April 6 to “pursue other interests.”

I’ve added Robert West’s Separation Agreement with Thomas Weisel to the website. I’m puzzled though. Why include a confidentiality clause (see ¶ 6), then turn around and publicly file it with the SEC? You can find other Thomas Weisel contracts on our website now.

Another interesting agreement is Thomas Weisel’s Employment Agreement with Thomas Weisel Partners Group Inc.. It includes the permitted uses of the Thomas Weisel name by Thomas Weisel. That’s what happens when you name a company after yourself.

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employment agreement severance agreement

Gap CEO Closes Shop

Gap Inc. announced that CEO Paul Pressler will step down from his position as president and chief executive officer of the company, as well as resign his seat on the company’s board, effective immediately.

Pursuant to the Employment Agreement between Gap Inc. and Paul Pressler, Pressler is eligible for up to approximately $14 million associated with his severance with the company, assuming a company stock price of $20 per share, which Gap did hit in after-hours once news of the resignation filtered out.

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employment agreement severance agreement

And They Were Pissed at Carly…

Marketplace:: Sloan Sessions: Goodbye Bob Nardelli. When Home Depot CEO Bob Nardelli resigned last week, a lot of people were outraged at his severance package: $210 million. That’s a lot of money for a CEO whose company struggled badly while he was on the job.

When Carly Fiorina walked away from HP with a $21 million severance package, the critics scowled. Now, Bob Nardelli leaves Home Depot and suddenly $21 million looks like chump change. You can find Robert Nardelli’s employment agreement on the site now, along with other Home Depot contracts.

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employment agreement severance agreement stock options

Stock Options Backdating Scandal Widens

New York Times: KB Home Ousts Its Chief and 2 Others. The longtime chief executive of KB Home, one of the nation’s largest home builders, resigned under pressure on Sunday night and agreed to return $13 million in profit from backdated stock options, the company said.

At first, I thought the stock options backdating problem was only a tech company issue. However, recent events indicate that this problem spans across companies from different industries and may be more widespread. I’ve posted KB Home contracts to the web site where you can find the employment agreement for Bruce Karatz from 1995 and 2001, as well as his recent resignation agreement with KB Home.