Starwood Executives' Golden Parachutes Got More Golden With New Marriott Offer


Skift Take

The Anbang investor group's last-minute bid nearly doubled the compensation Starwood executives will receive, if the new Marriott deal closes. Golden parachutes, indeed.
For Starwood's top executives, one big benefit of the last-minute, unsolicited rival takeover bid from Anbang Insurance Group, J.C. Flowers & Co., and Primavera Capital is that they will take home a lot more cash and stock if or when the new merger agreement with Marriott is closed, and they are asked to bid adieu. >>UPDATE: Anbang Raises Offer to Upset Marriott Bid Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson already said as far back as December that the first job cuts would take place at the top to maintain the original $200 million in synergies or cost savings that would arise from the combination of both companies. Now that those synergies have risen to $250 million, to be achieved within two years after closing, it's clear that much of those cost savings will come from job losses, primarily on the Starwood corporate side. It's simply par for the course for a merger/acquisition like this one, and one of the costs of forming the world's largest hotel company. However, if you happen to be one of Starwood's top executives, losing your job won't be so bad, at least not with these golden parachutes, and they can probably thank Anbang and company for that. Comparing the departure compe