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TechAOL

AOL’s CEO will make millions from the Verizon deal

By
Benjamin Snyder
Benjamin Snyder
Managing Editor
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By
Benjamin Snyder
Benjamin Snyder
Managing Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 14, 2015, 11:45 AM ET
Photograph by Bryan Bedder—Getty Images
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AOL’s CEO Tim Armstrong reportedly stands to collect $180 million from the company’s acquisition by Verizon (VZ), according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper adds he won’t be eligible for a good amount of that money until a year after the deal closes.

The Journal reports that Armstrong has 6.7% ownership of AOL and is the largest individual shareholder. The article continues:

The 1.68 million shares Mr. Armstrong owns have a market value of $84 million. Since he spent $25 million of his own money in the course of building up that stake—he also received stock awards—Mr. Armstrong will net about $59 million from selling his shares.

Armstrong will stay with Verizon, and he has signed a long-term contract, according to the newspaper. He received a “large number” of AOL stock “options with varying exercise prices,” but can’t exercise those options until a year after the deal closes, the paper said.

Exercising the options would yield a profit of about $120 million, the Journal said, and would bring his “total haul from the transaction to $179 million, excluding taxes.”

In 2014, Armstrong’s compensation totaled $6.9 million. Verizon acquired AOL for $4.4 billion on Tuesday.

As Fortune reported, the deal signals Verizon’s foray into the ad-tech business.
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About the Author
By Benjamin SnyderManaging Editor
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Benjamin Snyder is Fortune's managing editor, leading operations for the newsroom.

Prior to rejoining Fortune, he was a managing editor at Business Insider and has worked as an editor for Bloomberg, LinkedIn and CNBC, covering leadership stories, sports business, careers and business news. He started his career as a breaking news reporter at Fortune in 2014.

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