Apotheker's exit payout dwarfs HP's new CEO

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Leo Apotheker, CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., speaks at a media event in Beijing, June 29, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily

Leo Apotheker, CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., speaks at a media event in Beijing, June 29, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/China Daily

Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:52pm EDT

(Reuters) - Hewlett Packard Co will pay ousted CEO Leo Apotheker nearly $10 million in severance and bonuses and let him keep 156,000 restricted shares, a hefty payout for an 11-month term that saw HP's share price dive 45 percent.

In contrast, HP will pay new CEO Meg Whitman a base salary of just $1 per year. She, however, has the option to buy 1.9 million of the company's shares and is eligible for a performance bonus of $2.4 million in 2012, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Apotheker -- fired this month after repeatedly slashing sales forecasts and angering investors with a pricey acquisition of Autonomy -- gets a $7.2 million severance payout and also a $2.4 million annual bonus under the company's 2005 "pay-for-results plan".

In addition, he will be reimbursed for relocating to France or Belgium, and compensated for any losses on the sale of his residence in California.

Whitman joins a club of high-profile CEOs who have drawn the dollar-a-year salary, which include Apple's Steve Jobs, Yahoo Inc founder Jerry Yang and Google executives Larry Page, Eric Schmidt and Sergey Brin.

HP's shares closed up 2.5 percent at $23.78 on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bangalore, editing by Bernard Orr)

(This story was corrected in the final paragraph to say that are shares up 2.5 percent, not down)

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Comments (5)
ggreen48 wrote:
I hope they negotiated a lower payoff for Whitman when she leaves, which will be incredibly soon. I don’t think she fits HP or has a clue what to do there. They could have at least picked a decent interim place holder while looking for someone qualified.

Sep 29, 2011 7:24pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
At this rate, they will bankrupt the company in just 5 CEOs.

Sep 29, 2011 8:44pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
Intriped wrote:
Ridiculous, no one person on earth is worth this kind of money. Especially when the company stock is sub par.

Sep 29, 2011 9:00pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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