BlackBerry CEO John Chen has spent his first almost five years at the helm of the former smartphone giant trying to turn things around. He appears to be succeeding, at least in the eyes of BlackBerry’s board of directors. They rewarded Chen on Thursday with a new five year contract including compensation valued at close $150 million in total.
Re-upping Chen, who focused his turnaround efforts on growing sales of software and security services while cutting phones, looks like an easy call if the board was tracking BlackBerry’s stock price. It’s up more than 84% over the past year, trading at $13.19 midday on Thursday.
Under the new contract, Chen is entitled to the same $3 million salary and bonus per year as his prior contract, or a total of $15 million. He also gets 5 million restricted stock units that vest 20% per year and another 5 million units that will vest if BlackBerry’s stock price reaches $16 to $20. The 10 million units are worth $132 million at Thursday’s midday price and could be worth even more if the stock keeps rising. Chen will get an additional cash award of an undisclosed amount if BlackBerry’s stock hits $30. (The amount will be disclosed in May securities filing, the company said.)
“John engineered a successful turnaround and has the company repositioned to apply its strengths and assets to the Enterprise of Things, an emerging category with massive potential,” Prem Watsa, the company’s lead director, said in a statement. “John’s leadership is critical and the Board has determined that it is in the best of interests of BlackBerry and its shareholders to continue his service through November 2023.”