BP ex-CEO loses $40 million over relationships with colleagues
- Bernard Looney resigned as the CEO of BP in September.
- BP said Looney hadn't been transparent about "past personal relationships" with colleagues.
BP CEO Bernard Looney abruptly resigned in September after the company's board said he hadn't been forthright about past "personal relationships" with colleagues.
Now, the company said this week that Looney will lose out on more than $40 million of compensation because of what the board said was "serious misconduct" when it came to his completely informing its members of those relationships.
Much of what Looney will forgo is potential future compensation that he'll now not be entitled to, like bonuses and pension payments. But the company, in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said Looney also would be required to repay 50% of the cash portion of the annual bonus paid to him in 2022.
That could equal around $1.3 million he'll have to repay, The New York Times reported.
In 2022, according to the company's annual report, Looney had total compensation at BP of nearly $13 million, based on current exchange rates. BP did not immediately respond to BI's request for a comment.
BP said its decision came after "careful consideration" that concluded that Looney had "knowingly misled the board" by "providing inaccurate and incomplete assurances" when he was questioned about his relationships with colleagues in July 2022. Looney resigned in September 2023.
Looney took over as CEO in February 2020. In June of that year, BP announced a plan to cut 10,000 jobs.
In a memo to employees discussing the cuts at the time, Looney said: "It was always part of the plan to make BP a leaner, faster-moving and lower carbon company. That is how we will deliver on our net zero ambition. And that is how we will seize opportunities throughout the energy transition."
Meanwhile, in May 2022, the board said this week that it'd sought assurances that Looney had disclosed "his past personal relationships with company colleagues" and also assurances regarding his "future behavior."
"Mr. Looney gave these assurances to the board in July 2022," the company said in its statement this week.
But in September of this year, the month he resigned, Looney informed the company he hadn't been "fully transparent" in those assurances, BP said.
Now, he'll pay for it — literally.