Legal chiefs in large American companies, including U.S. Steel General Counsel Duane Holloway, are snagging lucrative golden parachutes as mergers and acquisitions activity intensifies. Holloway, who played a crucial role in the company’s anticipated $14 billion sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel, is set to receive a $16.3 million payout upon the deal’s conclusion. This is a recent and significant example of the generous compensation corporate legal chiefs can obtain if proposed company sales successfully reach completion.
However, these substantial payouts potentially raise ethical questions. Some, like Cindy Schipani, a professor of business law at the University of Michigan, argue that such enormous golden parachutes might encourage executives to finalize a deal, regardless of whether it is beneficial to shareholders. Yet, as merger and acquisition activity picks up, it remains to be seen what long-term impacts these payouts will have on the ethos of corporate law and decision-making. More information on this topic can be found in the original article.