Returning UnitedHealth CEO gets $1 million salary, $60 million equity award

Driving the news: The one-time $60 million award is in non-qualified stock options that vest after Hemsley's first three years, and he will gain no additional equity awards during those three years, per an SEC filing.

• Hemsley will also no longer be compensated as a board director, or receive an annual cash award.
• Hemsley earned almost $18 million in salary, bonus, and awards in his last full year as CEO in 2016, per a past filing.

Catch up quick: Andrew Witty — who became CEO in 2021 — stepped down "for personal reasons," UnitedHealth said on Tuesday.

• The announcement was paired with the suspension of the company's earnings guidance.
• UnitedHealth's stock fell 18% on Tuesday following Witty's resignation, dragging down the rest of the Dow.

The intrigue: Hemsley will also receive personal security benefits, the SEC filing said.

• UnitedHealth did not respond to Axios' immediate request for comment on what those security benefits entail.
• UnitedHealth insurance unit leader Brian Thompson was shot and killed in December, after which corporate leaders boosted their security and healthcare executives scrubbed their information from the internet.
• Thompson's killing — which authorities say was motivated by discontent with the health care system — sparked a national conversation about insurance coverage and profits.
• In the aftermath of Thompson's death, Witty pledged to help fix the health care industry, while also defending his business and blaming drug companies for driving up health care costs.