About three years after Texas oil producer Denbury Inc. emerged from bankruptcy, four top executives are set to collect the final installment of a $121.5 million post-reorganization pay deal that rivals some of the industry’s most generous compensation packages.
Chief Executive Officer Chris Kendall will receive the final portion of equity awards valued in total at $68.7 million by year end, according to this year’s proxy statement. His three top lieutenants will also split the remainder of their $52.8 million package, just as the company looks to close a $4.9 billion takeover by Exxon Mobil Corp. Kendall’s total is just shy of the value of stock awards Exxon CEO Darren Woods received over the past three years for running a company 100 times Denbury’s size.
Denbury’s payouts, which are tied to share performance and staying with the company, are due to the executives in December regardless of any takeover, though a sale would expedite the process. The coincidental deal with Exxon — whose offer was only marginally higher than Denbury’s stock price — highlights the lucrative compensation plan and how awards granted during a company’s darkest days can swell to extraordinary levels if its fortunes turn.
Read the full story on Bloomberg here.