Thread regarding Solventum layoffs

@kz As far as I can tell, exec comp has nothing to do with "reality" in the sense that like layoffs indicate some need to pinch pennies or whatever. In all fairness, Bryan took a 50% shave town to "only" 20M for 2026, as did the other execs. But he could go back to $40M after a huge round of hiring, or after another massive layoff, who knows. I think it's totally disconnected, and think the board would approve anything he asked for [probably].

For a point of comparison, Elon got a board to state he's worth $1T in pay, and keep a straight face doing it. I both want things to be principled, and don't know why I still expect any principles at all.

And don't forget. All these generous executive severance plans were approved in October 2024 - just a couple of months before that first big round of layoffs. Sketchy.

Solventum’s median worker pay and CEO pay ratio
The SEC requires publicly traded companies to calculate the gap between CEO compensation and pay for its median employee.

Solventum calculated its median employee wage at $82,157 for 2025. The company did not disclose its median employee wage the year before since it was a new company.

The latest median employee pay figure puts Solventum’s CEO pay at 245:1 more than its median employee’s pay for 2025.

@fc Befriend someone that ends in the C-suite somewhere? Not even joking.

I don't get why they live in an entirely different universe. Like if you make $1M/year, why isn't 1 week of pay per year of service (capped at 26 weeks) plenty, just like for the rest of us?

Or why isn't $1.6M/year just dandy, but you need to be "made whole" to the tune of $8M simply cuz a CEO is willing to do it (and I guess a board of people agree)?

We sure do love ruthless "benchmarking" (always down) everywhere else, though. You know, cuz we need to do exactly what ever other company is doing (as long as it's less than status quo), I guess just not with executive pay, bonuses, and farewell gifts.

He didn’t even do anything in his 1 year there. How do we get that deal?

@dx not sure, offer letter doesn't sound like it should be that much.
https://investors.solventum.com/financials/sec-filings/content/0001964738-26-000007/ex1025-hknightofferletter.htm

Your first year starting annual target cash compensation will be $1,600,000. This compensation is composed of an annual base salary of $800,000 paid monthly and a short-term incentive compensation opportunity with a target value of $800,000 paid annually. [...] Your annual base salary and short-term incentive compensation opportunity for 2025 will be prorated based on the portion of the year worked.

That last bit suggests it should be 2 / 12 * 1.6M = $266k

Jk, found it in the annual proxy statement:
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001964738/000196473826000017/solv-20260327.htm (pg 47)

Ms. Knight’s annual compensation consists of an annual base salary of $800,000 and a target AIP of 100% of her base salary and long-term incentives. In addition, Solventum provided make-whole compensation arrangements to Ms. Knight for the loss of certain compensation from her previous employer by providing a $2,000,000 make-whole new hire cash award and a make-whole new hire Restricted Stock Unit award with an intended value of $6,000,000 that vests annually over three years.

Stumbled on this which is right above that, fun play with words:

Mr. Barry, EVP and Group President Medical Surgical left the organization effective December 31, 2025 as announced October 17, 2025.

But just after:

Upon execution and non-revocation of a general release of claims, Mr. Barry was entitled to receive severance benefits applicable for termination without cause under the Solventum Executive Severance Plan...

Maybe Heather needed to be "made whole" after overseeing the dr-g pump business at Baxter which faces a class action lawsuit due to 2 deaths and 79 injuries? I wouldn't have touched her with a 10 foot pole. Having Jose Almeida (Bryan's brother in law) running Baxter until Feb 2025 might have had something to do with it. And the timing of an Oct hire + Oct lawsuit announcement is... coincidental for sure.

Related post: https://www.thelayoff.com/t/1kbjt2pd3

I want to know how HK received $8M in 2025 for working 2 months?

This place is a clown show!!!