Thursday 4 July 2013

No golden parachute for Zynga's Pincus

FORTUNE -- Mark Pincus will not be receiving any special payout for stepping down as CEO of Zynga Inc. (ZNGA), the social gaming company he founded and ran until yesterday turning over the reins to former Microsoft (MSFT) executive Don Mattrick.

Pincus' employment contract stipulates that his equity vesting would accelerate if he lost his job due to a change in control (i.e., Zynga being acquired), but that isn't what happened here.

Moreover, Pincus does not have any salary or bonus continuation clauses in case of either voluntary or involuntary termination -- something featured in the contracts of several other Zynga executives (we don't yet have details of Mattrick's contract).

Of course, such continuations are largely irrelevant given that Pincus recently cut his annual salary to just $1 and said that he would not take either a cash bonus or equity award in 2013.

A Zynga spokeswoman confirms that Pincus will maintain that $1 comp plan in 2013 in his new role as chief product officer, and adds that there is no special compensation tied to his stepping down as CEO.

Pincus currently holds around a 7.5% ownership stake in Zynga, which closed trading today with a market cap of around $2.6 billion.No golden parachute for Zynga's Pincus

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