Parting gifts: Top CEO severance packages in IT

The news that RIM former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis will both receive generous severance packages has put the spotlight once again on "golden parachutes." But to put things into context, let's take a look at some of the other severance packages given out to CEOs in the ICT sector over the past few years.

Mark Hurd

Former HP CEO Mark Hurd received between $40 and $50 million in cash, stock options and benefit. (Image courtesy Hartmann Studios)

Margaret Whitman

Margaret Whitman, formerly CEO at eBay, received nearly 10 times what Balsillie and Lazaridis are getting combined: $120 million. (Image courtesy Max Morse)

Eric Schmidt

Eric Schmidt raked in a hefty $100 million when he stepped down as Google CEO. (Image courtesy Guillaume Paumier)

Kevin Rollins

Former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins left his post with $48.5 million, mostly in expired stock options. (Image courtesy Ivanmakarov at en.wikipedia)

Edward Whitacre

In one of the largest severance packages ever paid to a CEO, Edward Whitacre at AT&T got a staggering $230 million. (Image courtesy AT&T)

Louis Gerstner

Not far behind, former IBM CEO Louis Gerstner took home $189 million when he left the company. (Image courtesy IBM)

Leo Apotheker

While it might seem like former HP CEO Leo Apotheker got the short end of the stick with a mere $9.6 million in severance, considering he only held the position for 11 months, he did pretty well. (Image courtesy David Terrar)

Gianfranco Lanci

After getting a cool $42.9 million upon leaving Acer, former CEO Gianfranco Lanci was sued by his former employers, who accused him of breaching a non-competition agreement when he went to work for Lenovo soon afterwards. (IT World Canada file photo)

Sanjay Jha

Motorola Mobility's former CEO Sanjay Jha received a generous $65.7 million when his company was acquired by Google. (Image courtesy Motorola Mobility)

Carly Fiorina

Former CEO-turned-politician Carly Fiorina received $42 million from HP before she switched to campaigning as U.S. Republican Senate candidate (she lost). (Image courtesy Antonio Milena/AB)

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