[mathattack]

It's a high class way for him to leave, that may set up other options for him in the future (VC, Professorship, etc) that wouldn't be there if it was an ugly breakup.

Given that the stock traded at all time lows, no severance was justified. https://www.google.com/finance?cid=32086821185414

[sirkneeland]

That didn't stop Leo Apothekar for collecting $30 million in severance after tanking HP.

Nor did it stop Stephen Elop from collecting $25 million after running Nokia's devices business into the ground/arms of Microsoft (although I think technically that was structured as a "bonus")

Reminds me of some quote I heard somewhere: "CEO: where success is rewarded handsomely and failure only slightly less so"

[mathattack]

I agree completely. That's why I consider a high class way for him to exit. I was going to make a comment about Apothekar's behavior pre-empting him from having a future business career but actually it doesn't seem to harm him.

[argonaut]

Given that he was the CEO of a public company, there's a pretty good chance he had a rich severance clause in his contract in the event he was fired.