SiliconBeat

In addition to the $3.5 million signing bonus Dell gave Ron Garriques when he was hired to be president of its global consumer group in February 2007, the computer maker also agreed to give him a restricted stock grant every year that was to be worth six times his annual base salary of $700,000 every year through fiscal 2012. It also promised him $3 million in cash that was to be paid out in three equal payments over three years from his original hire date.

Just over two years into his employment, he and the company entered into a “Retention Bonus, Merger and Modification Agreement” that gives him $2 million outright in exchange for terminating a special severance arrangement he had with the company, along with the balance of the restricted stock grants due him through fiscal 2012.

Those grants of restricted stock promised to Garriques required more and more shares to total six times his annual base salary, as Dell’s stock price has dropped 65 percent since he was hired, when it would have taken about 172,000 shares. This past February, an equally valued grant would have grown to more than 517,000 shares.

The special severance agreement that was canceled had called for de-escalating lump sum payment to be paid to Garriques should he be terminated (or quit for cause) of $12 million if it happened within the first year of employment, $10 million with two years, $8 million within three, $6 million within four and $4 million within five year of his initial employment.

Now Garriques will have to make do with a lump-sum severeance payment equal to one-year’s salary and target bonus.

Although final figures for fiscal 2009, which ended January 31, are not yet available, it looks like Garriques has been paid compensation valued at about $17 million in his slightly more than two years at Dell.

Of course, he  gave up a lot to come to Dell, right? Oh, wait. He came from Motorola, whose stock price hase fallen 83 percent, even more than Dell’s,  in the interim.