New HR Fired Me to Cut Costs—My 2004 Contract Triggered $10M

Описание: New HR Fired Me to Cut Costs—My 2004 Contract Triggered $10M


I spent 20 years building CoreStream Technologies from a 32-person startup into a enterprise data analytics powerhouse serving 473 clients including Boeing, Kaiser Permanente, and the Department of Defense. I was employee number 27, worked 70-hour weeks, and generated $47 million in annual revenue through systems I personally architected.

Then the new HR head fired me to "cut costs." No warning. No performance issues. Just "organizational restructuring."

I walked out calmly, went home, and pulled up my original 2004 employment contract. On page 6, Section 9C, I found an equity acceleration clause that nobody remembered existed: "All unvested equity grants shall immediately vest upon involuntary termination after 15+ years of service."

100,550 unvested shares. $103.47 per share. $10,403,903.50.

My lawyer called it "the cleanest case in five years." Their outside counsel from Wilson Sonsini panicked within 48 hours. The company tried offering half. I refused. On April 19th, 2024, the full $10.4 million wire transfer hit my account.

The HR head who fired me resigned three weeks later. The CEO was placed on a performance improvement plan. And I learned the most valuable lesson of my career: always read your employment contract, document everything, and never assume the people making decisions actually understand the agreements they're enforcing.

This is my complete story of how a forgotten contract clause from 2004 became the most expensive termination in company history.

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