Andrew Mason's $378.36 Retirement Package | Hacker News Reader

Andrew Mason's $378.36 Retirement Package

finance.yahoo.com

45 pointsMarlonPro25 comments

"Mason sold around $28 million worth of shares before Groupon's IPO in the fall of 2011."

I think he'll be ok.

Not to mention he has close to $200 million worth of shares on paper.

"Much of Mason's wealth comes from Groupon's stock. He owns 7 percent, or about 46 million shares, according to FactSet. Based on Thursday's closing price, that's worth more than $208 million."

I think he'll be more than ok.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1731820...

as GRPN's share price went up almost 20% since his announcement - well I guess its fair to say he made about $40M (on paper) by leaving.

As long as he sells soon and realises his gains, otherwise he might end up with nothing. The money isn't real till the shares are sold.

The funny thing is he would have been much richer if he got fired much sooner. That would have given him an excuse to sell his stake before it tanked. Being the CEO meant he couldn't dump his stock.

the other perspective is that it isn't much for the sole founder of a company that Google offered $6B for, and was worth nearly $20B[0] in the public market.

[0] Nov '12 peak was $20.15B http://knowledgetoday.wharton.upenn.edu/2011/11/groupon%E2%8... same article also says that pre-IPO secondary market valuation reached $30B

> But those developments hurt Groupon’s pre-IPO valuation, which fell from a peak of $30 billion to one institutional investor’s estimate of $8.7 billion.

> When Groupon went public, in 2011, it was valued at $11 billion dollars

Straight up bullshit. "It isn't much" is not valid commentary on "$28 million."

Right. So, why is this news-worthy?

> He can take comfort in knowing that, by leaving, he has already boosted his net worth.

Thats so sad!!!!

And yet, at the end of the day, he has $200-300 million. I don't feel too bad for the guy.

I dont know about you, but a lot of the joy that I get out of building things has nothing to do with money.

Does anyone know where he came up with the magic number? "Mason's annual salary is $756.72"

Six months is half that - i.e. the number in the title.

The salary is disclosed in public filings.

I think the question is about the genesis of the unusual annual salary of $756.72.

Yes, that was the question. Thought it might be a multiple of some arcane physical constant.

The answer will probably pop up on Quora soon - behind a registration wall no doubt.

http://www.quora.com/Groupon

And yeah, it could be a number broken down per year, per month, per week, per day, per hour.

The best I can come up with is $31.53 per pay period. That seems just as mysterious, however.

$10.51, 6 times a month.

The number is probably the exact amount to cover taxes on some other benefit, after taking out taxes on the salary itself.

I think he is referring to the annual number - why that exact amount?

Found this.

2nd comment from http://www.businessinsider.com/bizarre-groupon-ceo-andrew-ma...

It does seem like there's some reason. I wonder if its a tax convenience thing. It says he got $7186 in other comp and the footnote that includes the cost of parking, etc... But that's non-cash so if he only made $1, they wouldn't actually have enough in his paycheck each month to cover the taxes that need to be withheld (social security, etc...) so he's have to go to the trouble of writing a check each month. It's a good gesture as is; no reason to make it logistically inconvenient on him and the payroll staff. My guess is if you put this all in an accounting system, someone who makes $757 in cash and $7186 in non-cash income in Chicago IL has to withhold $756 in various taxes on their W-2.

Below is a link to the DEF14A. All publicly traded companies have to file how their C-level executives & board members are compensated.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1490281/0001047469120...

My guess is that it is reportable life insurance compensation?

I call "linkbait"

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