Former Dell CEO Receives $48.5 Million Windfall

Former Dell(DELL) CEO Kevin Rollins will reap a $48.5 million windfall, courtesy of his old employer.

The Round Rock, Texas, company disclosed the planned cash payment in a regulatory filing Wednesday, and said its current-quarter results will reflect a charge in that amount.

Dell said the payment is to compensate Rollins for 7.3 million expired stock options that Rollins was unable to exercise due to an accounting investigation within the company.

The investigation has forced Dell to delay filing its quarterly financial results, and consequently, to suspend the exercise of employee stock options. The PC maker announced a program in July that provides cash payments to current and former employees whose in-the-money stock options expired during the freeze.

While Rollins received $7.7 million for expired options that were included in the initial program, Dell said Wednesday that its compensation committee has decided to extend the program to another batch of Rollins' options that expired last week.

A longtime Dell executive, Rollins was appointed CEO in 2004. In January, he was replaced by founder Michael Dell, as sales stalled and the company lost its No.1 position in the worldwide PC market to rival Hewlett-Packard(HPQ).

Shares of Dell closed Wednesday's regular session up 56 cents at $27.78.

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