The amount of money that Moderna‘s CEO would get if the company is sold and he’s replaced is now a jaw-dropping $926 million, a 9,751 percent rise from his proposed severance of $9.4 million in 2019.
Stephane Bancel’s ‘change-in-control’ package was approved at the end of last year by the Massachusetts-based company’s board of directors, CNBC reports.
Most of the parachute – $922.5 million, to be exact – is in the form of stock, which has yo-yoed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rest includes a cash payment of $1.5 million and a bonus of $2.5 million.
Bancel, who is already worth a reported $4.3 billion, would only get the money if the company is sold or merged and he loses his job in the process.
Last year, he earned a combined $18.2 million, a 41 percent increase from 2020.
The French-born executive’s last known address is a three-bedroom, 1,537 sq ft apartment in Boston worth an estimated $1.2 million, according to Zillow.
Things have changed a lot for Moderna since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. It went from losing $747 million that year to making $12.2 billion in 2021, largely from sales of its two-dose vaccine, its only commercially available product.
Stephane Bancel, 49, would get a ‘golden parachute’ worth up to $926 million if Moderna is sold or merged and he’s replaced, a huge change from the $9.4 million package he had in 2019
Moderna’s fortunes shifted quickly after the pandemic. The Massachusetts-based company went from losing $747 million that year to making $12.2 billion in 2021
The success comes largely from its development of a COVID-19 vaccine, which remains the biotech company’s only commercial offering. Critics have accused the company of enriching itself and its executives while doing little to share its technology with developing nations
Most of Bancel’s golden parachute is in the form of stocks. Moderna’s share price has gone up and down since the pandemic, reaching a peak of $497.49 each on August 10. On Thursday, it was at $139.52
The biotech company is also developing shots for the flu and other infectious disease.
Much of Bancel’s sky-high golden parachute is tied to Moderna’s stocks, but share prices have gone up and down during the pandemic, making it hard to determine how much they’ll be worth if and when Bancel cashes them out.
Moderna shares reached a record high of $497.49 each on August 10 before tumbling to $253.98 by December 31. On Thursday, one share was worth $139.52.
Bancel, 49, was born in France.
He has degrees in engineering from École Centrale Paris and the University of Minnesota and earned a master’s in business administration from Harvard, according to Forbes.
He was the CEO of French diagnostics company BioMérieux before joining Moderna in 2011.
Bancel is worth a reported $4.3 billion, according to Oxfam International, a British nonprofit that included him on a May 2021 list of nine new ‘vaccine billionaires’ who were minted ‘as stocks in pharmaceutical firms rise rapidly in expectation of huge profits from the COVID-19 vaccines over which these firms have monopoly control.’
Oxfam reported that the nine new billionaire had enough money to fully vaccinate everyone in the world’s poorest countries 1.3 times over.
Bancel, 49, was born in France and got an MBA from Harvard. He is already worth a reported $4.3 billion
Bancel’s lat known address is a $1.2 million apartment in a corner row house in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston
The 1,537 sq ft apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to Zillow
The bright and airy unit features an open living room and dining room and a chef’s kitchen
Other amenities include a private entrance and courtyard and a bridal staircase
Oxfam America actually owns 376 shares of Moderna common stock, CNBC reports. The nonprofit has criticized Moderna for raking in the dough while keeping its technology from being shared with poorer nations.
Bancel’s last known apartment is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit in the Gas Light District, located in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston.
The apartment is worth an estimated $1.215 million, according to Zillow. The bright and airy unit is located in a corner row house and features a private courtyard and a bridal staircase.
‘Open living room/dining room and chef’s kitchen,’ reads the unit’s description.
‘The private entrance on Adams Street goes directly into the mud room, and the third entrance from the kitchen to the patio make bringing bikes and carriages inside even more convenient. Historic details include 2 Carrera Marble Fireplaces, restored tin ceiling, and a gleaming bridal staircase.’
Last year, Bancel made a combined $18.2 million for his role as CEO, representing a 41 percent increase from 2020, CNBC reports.
His compensation included his base salary of $990,385, $15 million in stock award and options and a $1.5 million bonus.
Moderna spent an extra $661,000 in personal security for him and his family.
Bancel isn’t the only top executive at Moderna cashing in on the COVID vaccine’s success.
Moderna President Stephen Hoge made $7.8 million last year. He also cashed out $165.9 million in stock options
Moderna Chief Technical Officer Juan Andres made $6.6 million. He cashed out $194.3 million in options
president Stephen Hoge was paid $7.8 million last year, including stock awards and options valued at $6 million and a bonus of $819,000.
But Hoge’s biggest payday came when he cashed out $165.9 million in stock options last year.
Similarly, Chief Technical Officer Juan Andres made $6.6 million, with $5 million in stock awards and options and a bonus of $756,000. But he cashed out $194.3 million in options.
Hoge’s total 2021 compensation, without the cashed out options, is a 48 percent increase from 2020, while Andres’s compensation represents a 55 percent raise.
Oxfam America has filed a proposal for the annual Moderna shareholder’s meeting on April 28 urging the company to share its vaccine development technology with developing nations.
‘We believe backlash from Moderna not sharing information needed to manufacture its vaccine in low- and middle-income countries could tarnish its reputation, threaten its social license to operate, and undermine relations with the U.S. government,’ Oxfam wrote in its proposal.
Moderna’s board of directors, which includes Bancel, has asked shareholders to vote against the proposal, arguing that sharing the information would impact the safety and quality of the vaccine and hurt the public’s confidence in its mRNA technology.
Moderna and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are over disputing who should get credit for a central piece of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The biopharmaceutical firm and the government agency have spent years collaborating on vaccine development.
According to the NIH, three scientists at the agency’s Vaccine Research Center played a central role in designing synthetic genetic material that is key to how a person’s immune system responds to the vaccine.
In a call with reporters last week, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested that the NIH would share the technology if it wins the dispute.
Pfizer and Moderna are expecting to bring in $51 billion in vaccine sales this year, according to earnings statements published by the companies.
Pfizer and Moderna project a combine $51 billion in revenue from their Covid vaccines this year
Large vaccine manufacturers have been criticized by the global health community for prioritizing profits over health. The companies have delivered less than 2 percent of vaccines to developing countries while also refusing to lift IP waivers to allow these countries to make their own versions of the shot
The Pfizer and Moderna shots have been administered a total of over 500 million times in the U.S. since the first became available in late 2020
Pfizer expects to lead the way, with $32 billion in expected sales, with Moderna projecting $19 billion in revenue from its Covid shots.
Almost all of these sales are coming from the developed world, with major nations like the US, the UK, Germany and others having surplus of vaccines while many developing countries struggling to get their hands on the shots.
The wide disparity between the developing and developed world has been noted by organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA) who are continuing calls for the companies to make their shots more widely available in the developing world.
