BlackBerry’s new CEO John Chen has been set up with a $1 million base salary, $2 million performance bonus and $85 million worth of company stock.
In a filing with the SEC last week, BlackBerry indicated Chen would be granted “13,000,000 restricted share units vesting as to 25% on the 3rd and 4th anniversary dates of his employment, with the balance vesting on the 5th anniversary.” Bloomberg valued the stock at $85 million in its report.
Last week BlackBerry announced it had abandoned its plan of taking the company private. Fairfax Financial had withdrawn its tentative $4.7 billion bid to the buy the company and instead had invested in a fresh $1 billion in funding for the struggling Canadian company. In the same announcement, BlackBerry said that CEO Thorsten Heins was stepping down to make room for Chen and that Fairfax CEO Prem Watsa would join BlackBerry’s board.
BlackBerry has been in trouble for a while and has experienced years of losses and layoffs. But BlackBerry’s third-quarter numbers were some of its most dismal yet, with the company confirming losses of close to $1 billion.
BlackBerry’s agreement with Chen also concludes that he will $6 million (two times his salary and two times his bonus) if he is terminated without reason.
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