Gifford's severance to top $16m

Chad Gifford, the influential Boston banker who sold FleetBoston Financial Corp. to Bank of America Corp. this year, will receive more than $16 million in severance pay when he retires in January, as well as access to a company jet and the right to purchase from the bank four tickets to 15 Red Sox games of his choice per year for the rest of his life, according to a regulatory filing by the company yesterday.

Under the terms of his separation package, Gifford, 62, will receive the sum he was promised as a result of the last megamerger he brokered -- the sale of BankBoston Corp. to Fleet in 1999 -- a total of $16.4 million. In addition, he will receive a bonus of up to $8 million for his work in 2004, plus up to $667,000 for working through January 2005, and a $50,000 annual consulting fee.

Analysts said the cash Gifford is taking with him, and most of the perks, are in line with those other top executives receive, including an office, a secretary for at least five years, and car-and-driver service when he does consulting work for the bank. The much-coveted Red Sox tickets may have been worth more to Gifford than the money he might have negotiated instead, the analysts said.

"Of all the perks bequested to him, I assume he's probably most excited about those seats," said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Portland, Maine, who has long followed Gifford's career.

Alexandra Trower, a Bank of America spokeswoman, said the package reflected Gifford's contributions. "He was with the company for 38 years, and he built an amazing institution," she said. "He was particularly actively involved in ensuring the success of the merger in the Northeast."

Gifford did not return requests for an interview late yesterday.

Gifford's going away package pales compared to some of the massive paydays some executives have seen upon leaving their posts, some of them in disgrace. Former New York Stock Exchange chief executive Richard Grasso shook Wall Street with his $187.5 million severance deal; former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz is still fighting to keep his $140 million exit package.

Former General Electric Co. chief executive Jack Welch Jr. famously obtained retirement benefits that included many of the perks he received during his many years at the helm of the company, including tickets to the Red Sox, the New York Yankees, the New York Knicks, and the Wimbledon tennis tournament, and the use of an $80,000-per-month Manhattan apartment. He later relinquished many of the perks in response to a firestorm of criticism after they were revealed during divorce proceedings.

Gregory P. Taxin, chief executive of Glass, Lewis & Co., a San Francisco firm that advises large institutions on how to vote corporate proxies to guard shareholder interests, said Gifford's package overall was within market norms. The perks stood out, he said.

"I think it's a little unseemly. Both season's tickets to the Red Sox and private jets are available on the open market. It's not as if the cash payments weren't sufficient for Chad to buy those things," Taxin said. "It's a little curious that Bank of America would have offered them."

But paying for 120 hours a year on the company jet, for five years, and forgoing 60 Red Sox tickets a year might have saved the company money in the end, Taxin said. Had Gifford not received those things, he might have demanded more money.

"One wonders why Bank of America didn't just pay cash," Taxin said. "This departing executive may value those things more than they value cash."

The bank said on Dec. 14 Gifford planned to retire, more than a year before he was expected to leave. Gifford said he felt his work of merging Fleet with the Charlotte, N.C., banking giant was done. Bank of America paid $48 billion for Fleet in April.

Gifford will remain a member of the board of directors at the company and holds stock valued at $38.4 million.

He has agreed to provide consulting services to the company, related to marketing, and to advise the Bank of America Foundation on philanthropy in the New England region. He will earn a $50,000 annual retainer for those services for five years, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Gifford's office, according to the filing, will be "reasonable and appropriate in size and scope." The bank also will pay for Gifford to hire a financial planner and tax preparer for the 2004 tax year.

Cassidy, the analyst, said of Gifford's package: "What he received was in line with what others receive, and for the years he served, he deserves it."

Bank of America shares fell 10 cents, to $46.70 yesterday.

Beth Healy can be reached at bhealy@globe.com.