Steven Sinofsky may have exited Microsoft without a sound last year, but the former high-profile executive has been regularly in the news ever since. Reports started to pop up occasionally about the reasons behind his exit, along with financial details.
Apparently, the former Windows boss was still had to work out a final retirement agreement with Redmond. Now some new details that have come out of Redmond confirm that he has.
Sinofsky has agreed to a retirement package that is worth $14.2 million.
Microsoft has recently confirmed in a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that Steve Sinofsky is to receive 418,631 shares. The company will not be handing the package out at once, however — it will be split over the next three years, ending in August 2016.
Here is the legal lingo of the filing, if you are interested:
“The Retirement Agreement includes covenants by Mr. Sinofsky to:
(i) not compete with Microsoft by accepting employment at certain competitors or encouraging certain customers of Microsoft to choose a competing offering to Microsoft products;
(ii) not solicit Microsoft employees to terminate their employment or work for other entities;
(iii) cooperate in litigation brought by or against Microsoft;
(iv) not disparage Microsoft;
(v) continue complying with certain provisions of the Microsoft Corporation Employee Non-Disclosure Agreement between Microsoft and him related to intellectual property rights and confidentiality of Microsoft and third-party information. Mr. Sinofsky also agreed to a release of claims against Microsoft and its related parties.”
In short, Sinofsky will not be allowed to work for certain Microsoft competitors, at least until the end of this year, and neither can he disclose secret information about Redmond products and services.
Since his departure from Microsoft, Sinofsky has divided his time teaching at Harvard and working on his blog, Learning By Shipping, where he talks in lengthy detail about managing the release of technology related products.
