CEOs in 10 big merger sales to get $430M

NEW YORK - The CEOs who decided to sell in the 10 biggest U.S. merger deals this year are set to rake in a combined estimated $430 million in "golden parachute" payments, according to a study conducted by pay-tracking firm Equilar at the request of the Associated Press.

Translation: It would take the typical American household 830 years of work to get what the average CEO will receive in one fell swoop.

The payoffs are often negotiated when CEOs are hired. They're designed to compensate chief executives for losing their jobs and years of big pay so that they won't stand in the way of a sale that is good for the shareholders.

But some critics say the packages are so lavish that they can be an incentive to strike iffy deals.

Here is a breakdown of CEO pay in the biggest mergers in 2014:

Allergan's David Pyott: $100 million. Most of the money is in the form of stock options he was awarded in previous years. Those options have rocketed in value as Botox-maker Allergan's shares have more than doubled in 12 months. Without the deal to sell to Actavis, Pyott would have had to wait four years for all the options to vest.

Time Warner Cable's Robert Marcus: $80 million. Marcus, who has been CEO for 11 months, will get the biggest severance payment in this list - $20 million, assuming his deal to sell to Philadelphia's Comcast goes through. He also will receive $40 million worth of "restricted" shares meant to keep him working hard on the job for years. Normally, Marcus would have had to wait five years to pocket all the shares.

Covidien's Jose Almeida: $49 million. His pay for selling to rival medical device maker Medtronic will be mostly in the form of stock awards.

Biomet's Jeffrey Binder: $45 million. Nearly all the pay is in stock awards that he would have had to wait years to receive if he didn't sell the orthopedic products company. He gets this money even if he keeps his job, what's known to pay experts as a "single trigger." The April sale to rival Zimmer is still pending.

Lorillard's Murray Kessler: $45 million if his deal to sell to rival tobacco maker Reynolds American is completed. The pay includes $11 million in severance.

Sigma-Aldrich's Rakesh Sachdev: $34 million. The biggest contributor is stock options valued at $13 million that would vest immediately if his deal to sell the lab-chemical maker to Germany's Merck goes through.

Baker Hughes' Martin Craighead: $29 million. The package includes $3.2 million in "longtime incentive" pay, based on 2013 figures in the company's regulatory filings. If negotiations to sell to Halliburton fall through, Craighead would have to hit certain performance goals over three years to get all the money.

Beam's Matt Shattock: $29 million, including $8 million in severance, for selling the company that makes Jim Beam whiskey to Suntory Holdings in a deal that closed in May.

DirecTV's Michael White: $22 million. The package includes $5.5 million if he doesn't jump to a competitor in two years after the sale to AT&T is completed.

Forest Laboratories' Brenton Saunders: Zero. Saunders had a "golden parachute" entitling him to $53 million, the third biggest haul on the list. But his payout required what compensation experts call a "double trigger": He had to both sell his company and lose his job. In an unusual move, Saunders took over as boss of his acquirer, Actavis (see Allergan deal above).