The former director apologized for episodes of misconduct.
Steve Easterbrook, a former CEO of McDonald’s fired in 2019 for disciplinary reasons, returned to the company the compensation it received in the form of shares and cash worth $ 105 million, CNBC reported Thursday.
In 2019, the company’s board of directors launched an internal investigation that determined that Easterbrook had had a consensual relationship with an employee, and that he lied to internal security to convince everyone that it was not true. As a result, the official was fired. However, he received a reward of 42 million dollars, plus a considerable amount of shares whose current price is around 63 million dollars.
In August 2020, the fast food giant filed a lawsuit against Easterbrook, claiming to have received information about other episodes of inappropriate attitudes from its former CEO. In particular, Easterbrook was revealed to have had sex with three other subordinates.
The parties reached an agreement, and Easterbrook not only returned his goodbye bonus to the company, but also officially apologized. “During my tenure as CEO, on several occasions I failed to uphold McDonald’s values and fulfill some of my responsibilities,” he said in a statement. “I apologize to my former co-workers, the board of directors, and the company’s franchisees and suppliers for doing so,” said Easterbrook.