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Brett Arends
The chief executive of taxpayer-aided student loan company Sallie Mae (SLM Quote) could make as much as $257 million from its sale.
Tim Fitzpatrick's windfall will come as a result of the $25 billion takeover that he negotiated with Bank of America (BAC Quote), JP Morgan Chase (JPM Quote) and two private-equity firms. The deal was announced over the weekend. His predecessor and current chairman Albert Lord may make even more than Fitzpatrick. Details were unclear Tuesday night. Sallie Mae could not be reached for comment. Fitzpatrick was hired as president and chief operating officer in 1998 and stepped up to become CEO just two years ago. Public filings show that as of Feb. 28 he had already accumulated 2,036,447 million shares in the company, including certain "restricted stock units." At the takeover price of $60, each of those will be worth $122.2 million in total. Public filings also show 5.8 million options with exercise prices from around $21 to around $56. At $60 a share, they could be worth another $135 million. As with most companies, Sallie Mae has adopted a disclosure policy that effectively obscures the bottom line behind a blizzard of ambiguous tables and footnotes. The company could not be reached Tuesday for further clarification.
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