Coinbase’s CPO may earn $105m leaving company

Media reports suggest that outgoing Coinbase chief product officer Surojit Chatterjee will have made about $105 million from stock sales by the time he leaves office on Feb. 3, 2023.

Estimates made by compensation experts

DL News estimated Chatterjee’s earnings, which it claims was counterchecked by two executive compensation experts. The publication named Paul Hodgson, a senior advisor with Esgauge, and Rosanna Landis Weaver, a senior manager at the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, as the sources who checked the estimate.

According to them, Chatterjee has made about $115 million since he joined the crypto exchange from Google in February 2020. Interestingly, the Coinbase C-suite executive was reportedly set to earn as much as $646 million in his time at the company.

According to a Bloomberg report, Chatterjee’s stake in Coinbase was worth about $180.8 million soon after the crypto exchange went public. Additionally, he was in line to receive share options over the next five years that, based on Coinbase’s stock price at the time, would’ve been worth $465.5 million, all told.

The absurdly high amount was caused by the rapid increase in the price of Coinbase stock, which soared to a high of more than $342 a share at one point.

Furthermore, the crypto exchange had reportedly put in place a requirement for its executives to trade their stock options regularly. According to his SEC filings, Chatterjee sold his options in 65 different transactions, mostly in 2021, which netted him about $102 million in cash gains.

Coinbase continues to lay off employees

Chatterjee, who oversaw product management and design at Coinbase, reached a mutual agreement with the company on Oct. 28, 2022, to step down from his position.

The separation agreement indicated Chatterjee’s last day at Coinbase would be Nov. 30, 2022, but he would continue serving in an advisory capacity until Feb. 3, 2023.

The Coinbase executive had a five-year contract but is leaving after only three years to “take a breather.”

The crypto exchange has let go of more than 2,000 employees since June last year as it comes to terms with an unforgiving crypto market. It also recently announced that it would be winding down its Japanese operations in a bid to cut down on operational costs.

It’s unclear whether Chatterjee’s resignation is part of the ongoing efforts to cut costs at the crypto exchange.

The outgoing chief product manager has stated that part of his reason for stepping down was ongoing family issues that he had yet to come to terms with, including the passing of his mother and the diagnosis of his father with Alzheimer’s.

Chatterjee will also keep 249,315 shares of Coinbase stock. These shares are worth about $13 million at the current price of $52.53 for Coinbase stock.