Former McDonald's CEO will return more than $100 million in compensation to the company

Former McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook, who was fired in 2019 over a relationship with an employee, has agreed to return more than $100 million paid to him as severance pay to the company.

According to the WSJ, the ex-CEO of the network returned the shares of the company and cash, which is currently valued at more than $105 million. They were paid to him after Easterbrook was fired in November 2019, when he admitted having a relationship with a subordinate on mutual consent. However, less than a year later, the company discovered other cases of harassment and tried to recover the severance pay through the courts. The current deal, which Steve Easterbrook made with McDonald's, allows the company to avoid a lawsuit that was supposed to begin in court as early as May.

The former CEO also officially apologized.

Steve Easterbrook Former CEO of McDonald's During my tenure as CEO, I have at times failed to uphold McDonald's values ​​and fulfill some of my responsibilities as a company leader. I apologize to my former colleagues, the board of directors, franchisees and suppliers of the company for this.

• In 2019, the 52-year-old head of McDonald's, Steve Easterbrook, was fired due to a love affair with one of the employees. The director himself called the love affair a “mistake” (despite the fact that he was officially divorced, and the relationship was “by mutual consent”) and wrote in a letter that he agreed with the decision of the board of directors. At the same time, McDonald's officially fired Easterbrook for no reason, which allowed the former CEO to receive almost $ 42 million in severance pay and benefits at that time. Since then, the company's shares have risen significantly.
• Following the departure of the former CEO, an internal investigation uncovered emails containing dozens of sexually explicit photos and videos of Easterbrook with company employees and other women between late 2018 and early 2019. McDonald's said Steve Easterbrook lied to the board of directors to hide relationships with other employees and receive a multimillion-dollar severance pay.