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“The new employer is trying to keep the new executive whole,” he said, adding that it is common to provide the signing bonus in the form of a long-term incentive, not cash. Rogers did that with the $9-million in stock-based compensation and also tied some of those grants to future performance.

“In years where a CEO is replaced, it is common to see larger amounts reported,” Mr. Chen said. “The optics are not ideal, but this is the intended result of the rules, which is transparency.”

The payments also illustrate the importance of succession planning for corporate boards, said Paul Gryglewicz, managing partner at Global Governance Advisors in Toronto.

“It cost shareholders $9-million to attract an outside successor for the organization at a time when they had a longstanding CEO in Nadir Mohamed,” he said. “When shareholders see the shift in succession, it’s something that maybe could have been done through an internal hire.”

Telus Corp., one of Rogers’ two main competitors in the wireless business, announced its own succession strategy two weeks ago. Its plan to promote one of its long-serving executives to the role of CEO means Telus won’t have to pay a steep price to bring in an outsider.

Some other recent payments Canadian companies have made to attract top-level executives have stirred controversy, such as Barrick Gold Corp.’s US$11.9-million signing bonus to former Goldman Sachs president John Thornton.

Barrick appointed Mr. Thornton co-chairman of the board in 2012 and that sum was part of an overall US$17-million pay package that the company’s shareholders took serious issue with, leading to a rare vote rejecting the company’s executive compensation plan last year.