I suspect there will be more news to come on these two positions. I also suspect this signals a significant restructuring in the finance/corporate reporting/corporate audit groups at Whitehouse Station. Or. . . something more(?). We shall see.
Add to the surprising coincidence above, that Mr. Davis is getting around $13
And to be fair, Rob leaves a huge pile of cash on the table -- by walking away from Baxter, in the middle of a split transaction to boot. All his unvested stock options, restricted stock and bonus payments (and pension enhancements) will not vest. I doubt he really left a $15 million opportunity though. I guess Mr. Parkinson could have been pushing Rob out -- at Baxter, so that Parkinson himself would have the seat as head of the Med biz, post-split, too. But that seems unlikely. No, Rob was likely at the height of his powers at Baxter. And he likely convinced Merck's team that he needed. . . additional inducements -- last night I didn't count his additional $3 million, in PSUs. . . so the total is $13 million to walk in the door at Whitehouse Station. Wow.]
Of course, it could be that both senior Merck finance and audit executives decided that when they hit 58, they'd take stock of their priorities -- and cash-out their respective many years of options -- and call it. . . a pair of careers. It is possible. But unusual -- to be so close in time. [UPDATE: Unrelated NCAA bracketology -- going into tonight's games, Mr. Obama is ahead of me by 48 points. I can catch him if Michigan State stumbles, otherwise it will likely be his to win.]
