Golden parachute

The golden parachute ( English golden parachute ) is a clause in employment contracts of executives , according to which in the event of a takeover or a merger of the employer and the consequent loss of the job or in the event of an early termination of the contract, the manager receives considerable payments, for example in the form of bonuses , stock options or combinations of different wages . A golden parachute can also be used in cases in which the manager no longer enjoys the trust of the company management or the supervisory board without taking over the company.

General

Such a clause enables the employer to part with no longer desired employees , although the contract term has not yet ended and although the employee cannot be accused of misconduct that would justify early termination of the employment contract. On the other hand, this clause offers the employee financial security in the event that his work performance is no longer desired in the company.

In Switzerland , as a result of the successful federal popular initiative “against rip-off”, the ordinance against excessive remuneration in listed stock corporations was created in order to prevent excessive severance payments from executive and supervisory boards.

Examples of golden parachutes

year	person	country	company	Amount paid
1989	F. Ross Johnson	United States	RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company	$ 58 million
2002	Jean-Marie Messier	France	Vivendi Universal	20.5 million euros
2003	Philippe Jaffré	France	Eleven	19 million euros
2003	Pierre Bilger	France	Alstom	4.1 million euros
2005	Carly Fiorina	United States	Hewlett-Packard	$ 42 million
2005	Daniel Bernard	France	Carrefour	38 million euros
2006	Noël Forgeard	France	EADS	8.5 million euros
2007	Stan O'Neal	United States	Merrill Lynch	$ 175 million
2007	Serge Tchuruk	France	Alcatel	5.7 million euros
2007	Antoine Zacharias	France	Vinci	13 million euros
2008	Patricia Russo	France	Alcatel	6 million euros
2009	Thierry Morin	France	Valeo	3.2 million euros
2010	Sadeq Sayeed	United Kingdom	Nomura Holdings	27 million euros
2011	Léo pharmacist	United States	Hewlett-Packard	$ 7.2 million
2011	Jean Azéma	France	Groupama	2.94 million euros
2012	Frank Esser	France	SFR	3.9 million euros
2015	Vincent Volpe	United States	Dresser edge	20 million euros

See also

• Golden handshake

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Les plus gros parachutes dorés
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Ces gros salaires qui poussent à légiférer
3. ↑ Le salaire des patrons sous pression
4. ↑ HP below over Fiorina's $ 42 million in exit pay
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Les parachutes en or sous le feu de la critique
6. ↑ 8.4 billion loss - 175 million severance pay
7. ↑ Patricia Russo et Serge Tchuruk quittent la direction d'Alcatel-Lucent ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ L'ex-PDG de Valeo justifie ses indemnités de départ
9. ^ Parachute doré record dans la city pour le banquier Sadeq Sayeed
10. ^ New Hewlett-Packard chief Meg Whitman gets $ 1 salary, Leo Apotheker gets $ 13m
11. ↑ Groupama a versé à son ex-DG un parachute de 3 millions d'euros
12. ↑ L'ex- PDG de SFR a reçu un golden parachute de 3,9 millions d'euros
13. ↑ $ 113 million for quitting