GE Hands Former CEO John Flannery $10 Million Exit Package After 14-Month Stint

(Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co.’s former chief executive officer, John Flannery, will collect an exit package worth more than $10 million after his abrupt departure from the beleaguered manufacturer.

Flannery will get $4.25 million in severance, and vesting restrictions will be lifted on equity awards worth at least $3.75 million that he was previously given, the company said in a regulatory filing Friday. That comes on top of pension benefits worth at least $21.9 million that the longtime GE executive can start collecting at age 60, plus about $2.16 million in deferred compensation.

GE announced Oct. 1 that Flannery, 57, would step down after a 14-month stint as CEO in which the company lost more than $100 billion in market value amid one of the deepest slumps in its 126-year history. The slide continued this week under Flannery’s successor, Larry Culp, as GE disclosed an expanded federal accounting probe and worsening troubles at its ailing power business.

“John Flannery dedicated 32 years of service to GE, and the arrangements reached with him, including his eligibility for the GE Supplementary Pension Plan, reflect that service,” the Boston-based company said in an email. “The severance payment for Mr. Flannery represents less than one year’s combined salary and target cash bonus.”

--With assistance from Alicia Ritcey and Thomas Black.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anders Melin in New York at amelin3@bloomberg.net;Jenn Zhao in New York at zzhao66@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Brendan Case, Susan Warren

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