HP execs Bradley and Donatelli ready to walk: reports

Re: leaving at end of the month

There are quite a few reasons for staying until March, most of which have to do with company by laws. You've got to go by those rules or no parachute for you. I'm not up on HP's by laws, but examples at other companies include:

- That's when his stock options become fully vested.

- That's the end of the window for succession planning. Officially that's for tying up loose ends and making a smooth transition, but if it's a friendly (or at least not violently hostile) departure it's how long the company will keep you on the payroll and allow you to use company resources while you hunt for a new job.

- That's when his 'emeritus' period ends. That's when the requirements in a non-compete agreement have been satisfied, even though you've remained an employee, but you have spent less than (x) time on company matters not related to your departure. You can work anywhere now.

- That's when the interest free loan(s) the company gave you to pay for previous stock awards is paid back in full.

It costs fuckloads of money to turn your stock options into actual stocks, so the company fronts you the necessary money and just deducts the loan repayments from your salary. Generally, if you're still paying off the loan when you resign any money still owed is deducted, in one big swoop, from your parachute package.

The rub is that those loans are interest free unless you resign with an outstanding balance. If that happens then interest, based on the original total loan amount, is applied retroactively. You can end up with no parachute, at all, and owing the company huge amounts of money.

There are plenty of other examples but, suffice it to say, there are lots of (multi-million dollar) reasons for executives staying a month longer. Those reasons may not seem very important (they're not really important at all actually) but very, very few companies have executive staff with the authority to change company by laws. Changing company by laws is almost always a Board of Directors responsibility.

This part here is the really important part: If an executive fails to adhere to company by laws, that executive has just sacrificed any and all support from their Board in the 1.73 million shareholder lawsuits that are about to hit the company. He's basically set adrift and nobody is going to rescue him. Ever. He's totally fucked. In most companies, dicking around with the by laws, and playing snarky word games with them is one of the very few things that can actually get a CEO fired (as opposed to being 'encouraged' to resign). Fired. Really fired: Fired like escorted out by security in front of everyone and their belongings mailed to them fired. No severance, no parachute, no nothing.

People often miss the significance of stuff like company by laws and corporate mission statements. Company by laws, and to a pretty far reaching extent, mission statements, have serious, big time legal ramifications. Those things are the writing on the tin. If you look inside the tin and there's something else in there, or some contents are missing, the SEC will be visiting shortly and people may go to prison.

At any rate, while just executing the now obsolete executive would be far easier, the by laws have to be followed exactly. Failure to do so can not only be illegal and cause endless lawsuits, it can make it nearly impossible to find a replacement executive. Nobody wants to work for a company that doesn't follow its own rules.

Re: leaving at end of the month

About a month

Re: except for the money it's

I imagine they will cope pretty well given the obscene salaries and payoff they are hoovering down.

If I was an HP shareholder (thank god Im not) I'd be asking why their executive comp is so out of whack compared to their performance.