When Microsoft (MSFT) announced on Nov. 24 that CFO Chris Liddell would be leaving the company by the end of the year, the release said that Liddell was “looking at a number of opportunities that will expand his career beyond being a CFO”. About a month later, we learned that Liddell would in fact continue to be a CFO — albeit with the added title of Vice Chairman — at General Motors.
Now one might think that going from the relative stability of Microsoft to the relative instability, or at least far more challenging environment, of General Motors might be a risky career move. And in the 8-K that GM filed last month, it seemed to account for that by giving Liddell a huge increase in salary — $750K a year to be finance chief at GM, a 33% increase over his last reported salary at Microsoft — as well as a bunch of other longer term incentives.
But on top of the gifts bestowed upon Liddell by his new employer, the 10-Q that Microsoft filed on Friday afternoon included Liddell’s
