Ex-Fox TV Boss's Fight For Bonus Makes Us Hate Ourselves
Today's beneficiary of grudging Defamer support is David Grant, the former head of Fox Television Studios and plaintiff in a new breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against his former employer. Grant alleges that Fox still owes him a bonus and more from his tenure, which ended in 2004; the amount of the bonus is in question, but thanks to a read-through of Grant's perversely fascinating contract, we now have grounds for our bitter jealousy in writing:
The contract he's suing over covers the years 2001-05. According to the deal, Grant started at an annual salary of $875,000, which was to increase to $1,025,000 by his final year, plus a bonus of 25% of his salary for each year Fox TV was profitable (or $112,500 if it didn't make money).
He also was granted a one-time bonus of 5% of the company's profits up to $1,250,000, to be paid in a manner and time-frame to be negotiated in good faith between the parties, as well as the unspecified payments from the company's [Equity Appreciation Plan] (even though that plan had been discontinued). Grant now says he wasn't paid this bonus or the EAP money and that Fox didn't negotiate in good faith.
Only a judge can decide who got paid what or when, but just one glance at the contract makes us wish we'd stayed in school long enough to have a million-dollar-plus kicker to go to court over. This page-view bonus crap is for the birds. And "equity appreciation"! Denton, are you listening?