golden parachute
noun
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The Gilded History of Golden Parachute
In 1981 an employee of a major company undergoing a corporate merger referred cynically to the huge severance packages given ejected executives as "golden parachutes." It isn't clear whether the employee actually coined the term, but it is well documented that both "golden" and "parachute" were already part of corporate parlance by that time. Since the 1960s, the business world had been using "golden handshake" for a compensatory package accompanying a termination or forced retirement. The image of the parachute, evoking a comfortable and painless landing, may have been inspired by the popular book about career change by Richard Bolles, titled What Color Is Your Parachute?
Examples of golden parachute in a Sentence
Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 19 Nov. 2025
Florida pushed Billy Napier out the door with a $21 million golden parachute.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 1 Nov. 2025
By denying Freixe a golden parachute, the Swiss food giant signaled that boards are starting to treat reputational risk as seriously as financial risk, and that missteps at the top no longer guarantee a cushy landing.
—Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 2 Sep. 2025
But his dismissal wasn’t without a golden parachute.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 7 July 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Golden parachute.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/golden%20parachute. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025.
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