Jeff Shell is leaving the Melrose lot with millions more than he departed with from NBCUniversal three years ago. Getty Images It turns out that Jeff Shell isn’t walking away from Paramount empty-handed.
The studio’s ex-president, who exited on Wednesday amid a headline-grabbing legal drama with high-stakes gambler RJ Cipriani, drives off the Melrose lot with millions more than when he departed NBCUniversal three years ago.
Jeff Shell is leaving Paramount with a nice cash payout. Getty Images According to an item tacked on at the bottom of a Thursday SEC filing, Shell is getting a cash payout equal to his annual base salary and target annual bonus. That’s a cool $5 million.
He’ll also pocket an additional one million shares in PSKY. That’s an another $10.85 million (using Thursday’s closing price of 10.85 million a share). All things considered, it was a quick and handsome divorce settlement negotiated by Shell’s attorney, Steve Olson, who took over for Shell’s previous attorney in March following our report that she also has represented Cipriani in the past and has been enmeshed with the blackjack player for at least a decade.
In exchange for the dough, Shell forfeited the right to sue Paramount or any of its affiliates. (After all, Cipriani is already doing that.) So, now, Shell and Paramount can presumably mount a united front against Cipriani in court. We hear that Paramount has enlisted Latham Watkins attorney Blair Connelly to fight the now infamous gambler’s lawsuit.
