Dive Brief:
- Under the terms of his contract, the former CEO of Sanofi, Chris Viehbacher, should be eligible for a $7.8 million exit fee over the next 24 months. However, he will only get the full amount if certain financial targets were achieved over the last three years.
- Viehbacher is not eligible for a pension under Sanofi's rules.
- As FiercePharma points out, Viehbacher's exit pay is significantly less than that of many other ousted pharmaceutical company CEOs, particularly of those in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
A relatively large amount of money comprised of cash and stock payouts is a standard part of contractual exit pay when an executive is terminated—this also known as the golden parachute agreement.
While many of those sums in pharma have been quite large, Viehbacher's is modest in comparison. To wit: When David Brennan left AstraZeneca in 2012, his exit pay was estimated to be in the $65 million range. Nonetheless, Viehbacher stands to collect a sum in line with his contract, allowing him to move on and pursue other goals.