Well, Drew Niv is finally out the door.
Ken Grossman, FXCM
Global Brokerage Inc (NASDAQ:GLBR), formerly FXCM Inc. and parent of operating company FXCM Group LLC has issued a filing stating that Ken Grossman will replace Drew Niv as CEO of the publicly traded company.
Mr. Niv remained on as interim CEO of GLBR even after resigning his positions at the operating company and its foreign subsidiaries, after he and FXCM were banned from the US FX market and fined $7 million for fraudulently misleading customers regarding the nature of the company’s market making activities. The operating company is owned 50.1% by GLBR and 49.9% by Leucadia National Corp (NYSE:LUK), although Leucadia has a greater than 50% economic interest in FXCM Group.
Ken Grossman is one of the co-founders of FXCM. From 1999 to 2007 Mr. Grossman served as the company’s CFO, and has remained involved in the business in both a board role and senior management advisory role since.
The key terms of Mr. Grossman’s agreement to step into the CEO role include a $600,000 salary plus a $1,000,000 bonus, and that his tenure as CEO will last no more than one year. The $1 million bonus gets paid if he completes his full one year term as CEO.
Earlier today, FXCM removed the ‘Interim’ tag from title of operating company CEO Brendan Callan.
One immediate issue facing Mr. Grossman is the Nasdaq delisting notice warning which GLBR received last week.
The filing made by GLBR today reads as follows:
On May 15, 2017, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Global Brokerage, Inc. (the “Company”) appointed Kenneth Grossman to serve as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Concurrent with the appointment of Mr. Grossman, Dror (Drew) Niv has resigned as interim Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
Mr. Grossman, 45, served on the board of our predecessor, Global Brokerage Holdings, LLC, from 1999 to 2010 and continues to serve on the Board today. Mr. Grossman has been a Managing Director of the Company since 1999 and is one of the founding partners of the firm. From 1999 to 2007, Mr. Grossman served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer. Prior to co-founding the Company, Mr. Grossman served as Chief Financial Officer and in other senior management roles at Berisford Capital Markets. Mr. Grossman graduated from Brooklyn College in 1994 with a B.S. in Accounting and received a J.D. with honors from Brooklyn Law School in 1997.
The Company and Mr. Grossman have entered into an employment agreement (the “Grossman Employment Agreement”), dated as of May 15, 2017. Pursuant to the terms of the Grossman Employment Agreement, Mr. Grossman will serve as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer until no later than May 31, 2018 (the “Grossman Employment Term”). Mr. Grossman will receive (i) compensation of $600,000 per annum, and (ii) a bonus of $1,000,000 upon completion of the Grossman Employment Term. If Mr. Grossman’s employment is terminated by the Company not for cause, then he will be entitled to receive his compensation through May 31, 2018 and the full bonus.
The Grossman Employment Agreement supersedes all other agreements relating to Mr. Grossman’s employment and any severance benefits. The above description of the Grossman Employment Agreement does not purport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by the full text of such document.