Geoff Morrell, a former Pentagon spokesperson and current head of public relations at BP, is a hero I never knew I needed. After reading about his work in the public relations field, I understand the temptation to go to the “dark side.” Morrell has shown that it is possible to be an effective spokesperson for a company and still maintain a high level of integrity. He has been a champion for transparency and has been a vocal critic of the oil industry’s poor track record in the past. I look forward to seeing the great things he will do in the future.
Here’s the deal: A regulatory filing from Disney last week, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, has put a spotlight on Morrell’s incredibly brief but wildly successful tenure at the company.
As the head of Disney’s head of PR for just three months, from January to April of last year, Morrell made an incredible $150,000 a day, my colleague Chris Isidore reports.
The CEO of the company received a total of $1,537,438 for relocating his family from London to Los Angeles, as well as an additional $500,000 to “account for his unique circumstances” of having relocating the family again upon his departure.
Disney is buying out the remainder of Morrell’s contract. For the current fiscal year that ends October 1, Morrell will receive an additional $4 million to pay out the rest of his contract, along with the target bonus he would have received for 2022.
So, in total, Morrell is walking away with $10.3 million for exactly one-quarter of a year’s work. And he’s already landed himself another gig as president of the global strategy and communications unit of Teneo, a CEO advisory firm.
Morrell did not respond to a request for comment on his Disney pay package, and a Disney spokesperson declined to comment beyond the details in the filing.
Read Also:
Kraken Reaches Multimillion Dollar Settlement With SEC
$700 Million Crypto-Fraud: Chinese Exchange Founder Arrested