Bill Johnson, the CEO of food giant HJ Heinz Company (NYSE:HNZ), could end up with a gain of some USD100m (EUR75m) from the buyout by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) and 3G Capital Inc, Bloomberg said on Friday.
The two investment firms agreed on Thursday a USD28bn deal for Heinz at USD72.50 a share.
Johnson owned 1.38m Heinz shares as of 17 December 2012, according to Bloomberg data.
Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn told Bloomberg that Heinz performance declined before Johnson took charge and helped turn around the company.
Buffett told CNBC after the announcement of the deal on Thursday that he expected Johnson to stay on as CEO after completion, but 3G will have the final word in that decision.
Heinz sees further growth as a private company under the ownership of the two investors, it has said.
The deal, to be financed with cash and debt, is seen to wrap up in the third quarter of this year, subject to clearance by regulators and shareholder approval.
