Yes, Groupon’s stock is headed toward a black hole. And yes, there are legitimate questions now about whether it can be a sustainable business.
But the folks recently tapped to help Groupon right the ship are going to be suffering just a bit less for their troubles. On Wednesday, the company revealed in a securities filing that it had awarded extra options to two key executives:
“Kal Raman. The Compensation Committee approved a restricted stock unit (RSU) award to Mr. Raman of 275,000 shares that will vest over four quarters starting on January 1, 2013, pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in the standard form of Notice of Grant and Grant Agreement.David R. Schellhase. The Compensation Committee approved a restricted stock unit (RSU) award to Mr. Schellhase of 172,200 shares that will vest over four quarters starting on January 1, 2013, pursuant to the terms and conditions contained in the standard form of Notice of Grant and Grant Agreement.”
Raman is a former eBay and Amazon executive who was hired in April as SVP of Americas in the wake of concerns about Groupon’s internal controls and business. On August 6, Raman was promoted to SVP of Global Sales and Operations, though at the time the company said his compensation was not change. Back in April, his deal called for him to get an annual salary of
$450,000, an annual bonus that would potentially match that salary, a signing/relocation bonus of $400,000, and 600,000 restricted stock units that vest over four years.
The new award comes on top of those previous RSUs.
Schelhase has been general counsel since June 2011. It doesn’t appear his job description has changed in recent months.
