A golden parachute has been defined as an agreement between a company and an employee (usually upper executive) specifying that the employee will receive certain significant benefits if employment is terminated. Most definitions specify the employment termination is as a result of a merger or takeover, also known as "Change-in-control benefits". But more recently the term has been used to describe excessive CEO (and other executives) severance packages unrelated to change in ownership (also known as a Golden handshake). The benefits may include severance pay, cash bonuses, stock options, or other benefits.
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Famous quotes containing the words golden and/or parachute:
“She, as a veil down to the slender waist,
Her unadorned golden tresses wore
Dishevelled, but in wanton ringlets waved
As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied
Subjection, but required with gentle sway,
And by her yielded, by him best received,
Yielded with coy submission, modest pride,
And sweet, reluctant, amorous delay.
Nor those mysterious parts were then concealed:
Then was not guilty shame: dishonest Shame
Of Nature’s works, Honour dishonourable.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“I did not just fall in love. I made a parachute jump.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)