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The Golden Parachute

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INTERNATIONAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND STRATEGY

THE GOLDEN PARACHUTE

Prepared for:
Professor Toru Yoshikawa
By:
Matthew Lim Zhi Liang
S9118245I

An Introduction to the Golden Parachute
When we talk about executive compensation, one topic that never fails to come up is the Golden
Parachute. The Golden Parachute, as the name suggest is an executive safety net of sorts that is included in the employment contracts of senior-level executives. Basically it is a special payment – usually a lump-sum amounting to millions, that is paid in the event of a change in control of the company1. The reasons for the implementation of the Golden Parachute is something that has been constantly debated, but the most common objective, and the objective
I will be focusing on in this paper is to control the behaviour of the management in the event of a acquisition2. Often times when an acquisition occurs, the management of the acquired firm will not stay with the new firm, meaning that their will not benefit from the acquisition, but would rather suffer if the acquisition occurs. As such they might be inclined to try to prevent the acquisition, and not act in the best interest of the shareholders3. The Golden Parachute serves to ensure that the management acts in the best interest of the shareholders by providing a mechanism to protect their own personal self interest. Another objective that is often talked about would be that of an anti-takeover mechanism4. The Golden Parachute serves as a antitakeover mechanism in a number of ways, but in summary it is assumed to increase the cost of acquisition making the company less attractive for takeover.

Through the course of this paper, we hope to learn a number of things about the whole Golden
Parachute situation. Firstly, focusing on it being a tool to control the behaviour of the

1

Richard A.

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