A report claimed that scandal-plagued Guess co-founder Paul Marciano could walk away from the company $22.5 million richer — but a source told Page Six that the figures simply didn’t add up.
In addition to the hefty severance package, the 66-year-old executive, who founded the company with his brothers in 1981, received a 67 percent increase in his base salary for fiscal 2018, to $950,000, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday obtained by The Blast.
Marciano reportedly got the salary bump and the prospect of a golden parachute worth $22.5 million — equaling more than double his base salary, plus benefits — but only under certain conditions.
“The hefty payout would only be applicable in the event that the executive was terminated following an acquisition (change of control event),” a source told Page Six. “Additionally, if the change of control did occur, the payout would have been for $8.5 million and not $22 million.”
While his annual base salary was said to have increased 67 percent, the Guess board recommended Marciano’s annual target bonus be cut to 263 percent of his salary from 400 percent. The target bonus, nonetheless, could increase this year, to $2.5 million from $2.3 million last year, because of the salary increase.
“Essentially, what you are looking at is a proposal put forth by a shareholder for consideration by the broader shareholder group. Unfortunately, as the board points out there were a number of facts the shareholder stated incorrectly,” the source added.
Shareholders will hold an “advisory” vote on Marciano’s actual pay package at the company’s annual meeting on June 19.
Marciano was accused in February by model Kate Upton, 25, of “forcibly” groping her breasts during a 2010 photo shoot. The executive, who stepped away from his day-to-day duties following the accusations, called the claims “absolutely false.”
In March, after Guess hired Marciano’s personal lawyer to lead an internal probe, Upton said she would not cooperate with the investigation.
The probe was later turned over to a different set of lawyers, but Upton reportedly still refused to answer questions.
A second model, Miranda Vee, accused Marciano of sexual harassment and of “passing” her to his pal, Mohamed Hadid, whom she accused of date raping her during a meeting about a Guess test shoot. Vee later filed a police report about the alleged incidents.
Hadid has vehemently denied Vee’s allegations.