(Reuters) – Spirit AeroSystems CEO Patrick Shanahan will receive a payout of $28.5 million after the 737 MAX fuselage supplier completes its merger with Boeing, according to a regulatory filing on Monday.
Shanahan will get a cash payment of $2.3 million, converted Spirit restricted stock units worth $26.1 million and perquisites and benefits worth $45,000 as part of a package known as a “golden parachute”.
Such payments are commonplace in corporate America and are intended to incentivize management to sell a company, even if it means ending their own employment.
Boeing agreed in July to buy back Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion in stock and Airbus moved to take on the supplier’s loss-making Europe-focused activities. It was a transatlantic break-up of the world’s largest standalone aerostructures company.
Shanahan had been seen as a frontrunner to take over the reins at Boeing, which is now headed by former aerospace executive Kelly Ortberg.
Boeing chair Steven Mollenkopf asked Shanahan in May if he would be interested in being considered as a candidate for the role of Boeing’s president and chief executive officer, the filing showed.
Shanahan responded that he would not rule out being in the running for the role, according to the filing.
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal and Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)