Suits: He’s Not Out Of Cash, But Is Out Of The Club

On the very same day that he left Home Depot last week with an exit package worth at least $210 million, Robert L. Nardelli walked away from another prominent position — without a cent.

Robert L. Nardelli, former chief executive of Home Depot.

James M. Bernhard Jr.

Richard Thalheimer, founder of the Sharper Image, says his $5.7 million departure package ought to be bigger, but he also got a perk many would envy: 50 percent off all gadgets, forever.

While he was still Home Depots chairman and chief executive, Mr. Nardelli volunteered as the chairman of a disaster-response task force at the Business Roundtable, a kind of club for corporate chieftains that lobbies for their interests.

Last month, he met at the White House with Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, and other top government and military officials to discuss improved collaboration on disaster preparedness.

On Tuesday, though, Mr. Nardelli had to quit the group. The Business Roundtable is only for sitting chief executives.

At least he is in good company. The roundtables former chairman, Hank McKinnell, had to quit last year after he was pushed out of Pfizer, coincidentally with his own $200 million severance package. ERIC DASH

SPEAKING OF SEVERANCE As Mr. Nardelli found out, chief executives dont have to lift a companys stock price to leave with a nice, fat severance package.

Consider Fabian Mansson, the chief executive of Eddie Bauer since 2003. After the company exited bankruptcy in the summer of 2005, its stock was trading above $30. But the company lost almost $300 million in the first three quarters of 2006, so the stock is now trading around $9.

If Mr. Mansson leaves Eddie Bauer, which became more likely when the company agreed in November to be acquired by two buyout firms, he will be in a position to receive at least $10 million in severance benefits.

Eddie Bauer will also buy him a new home in his native Sweden, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. JEREMY W. PETERS

A DIFFERENT TACK Abject capitulation or tactical retreat? How to interpret the Shaw Groups reaction to shareholder complaints over the potential severance package for its founder and chief executive, James M. Bernhard Jr.?

After protests by the California Public Employees Retirement System, which estimated that Mr. Bernhards 10-year employment contract committed the company to giving him a golden parachute worth as much as $100 million, the company shortened the pact to just three years.

Calpers had blasted Shaw, a construction and engineering company in Baton Rouge, La., saying it had some of the most egregious severance and change-of-control provisions ever, and urged fellow shareholders to cap severance packages at three times an employees salary and bonus without explicit shareholder approval.

While Shaws board opposes the proposal, which will be put to a vote of shareholders on Jan. 30, its move to shorten Mr. Bernhards contract effectively cut his severance pay to three times his salary and bonus.

A Shaw spokesman, Christopher D. Sammons, declined to provide figures, but Calpers estimated that the exit pay could drop below $10 million. ELIZABETH OLSON

CASH ISNT EVERYTHING After he was forced out of the Sharper Image, which he founded, Richard Thalheimer felt shortchanged with a mere $5.7 million. But he was not angry enough to swear off the companys eclectic merchandise — especially life-size statues of Hollywood characters.

Mr. Thalheimer, who resigned as chief executive last year, declared in a recent public filing that his severance of $1.8 million was less than he was entitled to. His lump-sum retirement pay of $3.9 million, while $2 million more than the company said he was entitled to, was too small by his accounting.

Making matters worse, he had to pull $10,000 from his own pocket to pay for sculptures of Superman and C3PO, the robot from Star Wars, that had decorated his office and that he wanted to keep. Still, he got them for half-price, a discount he will be entitled to for the rest of his life. That means he can buy a Sopranos pinball machine for $2,500 or a Darth Vader helmet for just $500. PATRICK McGEEHAN

WIN-WIN SITUATION In its mission statement, the company says its executives are committed to a win-win for all parties involved in its business. But there is winning, and there is winning.

Win Win Gaming, a Las Vegas company that makes gambling software for cellphones in China, recently settled a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by David B. Coulter, even though Mr. Coulter never worked for Win Win and the company never fired him.

Mr. Coulter was the chief executive of Junum Inc., a credit repair service that Win Win bought in a reverse takeover in 2002, primarily for its listing as a publicly traded company.

Mr. Coulter sued in California, saying Win Win unfairly forced him out of Junum while taking it over.

After fighting the lawsuit for almost four years, Win Win settled it just before the new year by agreeing to give Mr. Coulter $400,000, a list of credit-repair customers worth $2 million and options for 700,000 shares of Win Win stock. MARK A. STEIN

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