Docu-Drama: CEO Kevin Kennedy leaving JDS Uniphase
By Jack Davis
Mercury News
A year after getting a major raise and a boatload of restricted stock, Kevin Kennedy has decided to call it quits as chief executive at JDS Uniphase to accept another job. He'll serve until Dec. 31, then remain on the company's board as vice chairman.
He delivered his decision to the company a week ago Friday, about nine days after the vesting of the first half of a restricted stock grant covering 200,000 shares that were awarded under a new employment agreement signed a year ago. It also included a 39 percent raise in his salary, from $575,000 to $800,000 a year.
Kennedy was also given 175,000 "deferred stock units" that were fully vested when they were granted last year. They are to be delivered to him when his employment ends "for any reason," or if the company is bought, or two years from their grant date, whichever happens first.
The agreement also called for Kennedy to be awarded a "minimum" of 375,000 restricted stock units "no later than the last business day of the first fiscal quarter" of the company's 2009 fiscal year. They were granted Aug. 29.
The increased compensation was offered in recognition of "the substantial results of Mr. Kennedy's leadership in effectuating the company's turnaround and positioning of the company for future long-term success," according to the proxy released earlier this month by JDS in advance of its next shareholder meeting Nov. 12.
JDS disclosed the news of Kennedy's impending
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departure Wednesday, when it released results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter showing a wider first-quarter loss as sales in its testing unit declined. It also said sales in its current quarter would come in between $360 million and $390 million, below the $419.3 million analysts in a Bloomberg survey were expecting.
Shares of JDS Uniphase stock dropped 8.5 percent the next day, to $5.49. Since Kennedy became CEO in September 2003, JDS shares have lost 80 percent of their value.
JDS Uniphase will be asking shareholders next month to approve an increase in the number of shares in its equity incentive plan by 12 million, or 40 percent.
Good luck. |
