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Star corporate raider Carl Icahn has offered his longtime chief financial officer, Ted Papapostolou, a juicy new contract extension to 2028. But it comes with some onerous strings attached.
There’s no doubt Papapostolou deserves a payday, having spent a lot of time extinguishing fires recently. First came last year’s short attack by Hindenburg Research, which sent the shares of Icahn Enterprises LP (IEP) tumbling. More recently, Papapostolou had to settle SEC charges over pledging company securities as collateral for personal loans.
So, Icahn is paying up. He’s granted Papapostolou a $2.2mn salary package, plus an incentive-based package worth up to $17mn that rewards him if IEP recovers some of its value. Unfortunately for us, Papapostolou has offered his omertà in exchange.
According to the offer letter (FTAV’s emphasis below):
You further agree not to write a book or article about the Designated Entities, Mr. Icahn, his family members, or any of the respective affiliates of any of the foregoing, in any media and not to publish or cause to be published in any media, any Confidential Information, and further agree to keep confidential and not to disclose to any third party, including, but not limited to, newspapers, authors, publicists, journalists, bloggers, gossip columnists, producers, directors, script writers, media personalities, and the like, in any and all media or communication methods, any Confidential Information.
It’s a shame Papapostolou is barred from sharing the internal workings of Icahn’s empire with gossip columnists, authors and publicists. Even his friends and family seemingly won’t hear a peep, except the fact that, yes, he once served as chief financial officer of IEP.
In furtherance of the foregoing, you agree that following the cessation of your employment hereunder, the sole and only statements you will make about or concerning any or all of: Mr. Icahn, his family members, and the Designated Entities . . . is to acknowledge that you are or were employed by the Company, and were its Chief Financial Officer.
But seems Papapostolou missed out on some of the more restrictive provisions affecting Icahn employees, like onetime chief financial officer of Icahn-owned refinery CVR Energy, Tracy Jackson. She agreed to keep the terms of the 2021 separation between herself, a spouse and a tax attorney (and a government agency, in the event of a subpoena).
We’d also love to know what Aris Kekedjian, a former General Electric executive who worked as IEP’s chief executive for just seven months before resigning, has to say. The same goes for David Willetts, who moved over to run Icahn-owned car mechanic Pep Boys after a brief stint at the top (his stint at Pep Boys proved equally brief, with the company announcing last week that Willetts has already left).
The circle running IEP is small, with under 50 employees at the Sunny Isles Beach, Florida-based conglomerate according to LinkedIn.
Hopefully a few escape the no-book no-blog agreement so a lucky reporter can package the tale of IEP into a warts-and-all bestseller, rather than a bland, hagiographic HBO series.
Further reading:
– Icahn seen clearly now the gains have gone (FTAV)
