HP details merger bonus program

There are about 17 top executives and 10,000 employees that Hewlett-Packard

and Compaq really care about and the two companies have agree to pay them $634

million to stay for at least two years after the merger.

Documents filed by the two companies show HP and Compaq are planning to pay

$55.5 million in bonuses to 17 key executives. Some 10,000 other workers will

share a $579 million pot ($6,000 per employee average).

With plans to lay off some 15,000 additional people, the rest of the

HP-Compaq workers, some 150,000 in all, will not share in the bonus bonanza,

other than that they get to keep their job.

An additional $22.2 million would have been paid out to HP CEO Carly Fiorina

and Compaq CEO Michael Capellas. But they withdrew from the bonus fund after the

deal came under attack from shareholders and analysts. The companies said they

withdrew in order to avoid giving the impression they would be pushing the

merger for financial self-interests.