The cast-aside CEO of Sanofi-Aventis agreed to take half the severance pay his contract specified. It's still a cool 2.7 million euros ($3.9 million), so presumably Gerard Le Fur (photo) isn't crying. Especially given the fact that he only spent two years in the CEO suite. "Taking into account the limited amount of time he held this office," the company said, the board and Le Fur agreed to the lower figure.
Being so agreeable may have helped Le Fur negotiate the rest of his deal. As scientific adviser to Sanofi's top execs for 30 months, Le Fur will get 50,000 euros each month. And in return for a non-compete agreement that runs through 2010, he'll get an additional 100,000 euros per month. That's $215,725 a month at today's exchange rate. Let's see... 30 months at $215,725. That's almost $6.5 million.
Le Fur will be relieved of his CEO duties by Chris Viehbacher starting December 1, 2008.
- read the Sanofi release
- check out the Wall Street Journal story