CEO Awarded $60 Million to Lead Linn Energy Firm Past Bankruptcy

The same day Linn Energy Inc. exited bankruptcy, it awarded Chief Executive Officer Mark Ellis a $60 million compensation package, more than three times the amount Exxon Mobil Corp. paid its CEO.

Ellis’s pay included an equity grant worth $58 million, split between restricted shares and so-called Class B units, which are classified as profit interests for tax purposes, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. Both vest in increments over four years, but the units are deliverable only when Linn’s equity value exceeds $2 billion. That condition has already been satisfied, the filing said.