Only in America: Free iPads for fired bosses

A new trend in managers' contracts gives pink-slipped executives more than just a cash bonus

Best Opinion:  Wall St. Journal

The story: A growing number of corporate executives are getting Apple-flavored additions to their severance packages. Along with the cash and bonuses they get as "golden parachutes," they're also entitled to iPads. For instance, one chief financial officer who left his job this year "to pursue other interests" pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to Theo Francis at Footnoted. But he also got to trade in his company laptop, cellphone, and iPad for new ones paid for by the company. TD Ameritrade, Nautilus, Medtronic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro are among the firms "letting bigwigs keep an iPad as a consolation prize or parting gift."

The reaction: "It's not entirely clear why high-powered corporate chieftains" who make huge amounts of money "need to fight to hold onto their tech gear," says Shira Ovide in The Wall Street Journal. But "really, what self-respecting executive wouldn't insist on keeping the device?" says Francis at Footnoted. "It says you're detail-oriented. It says you sweat the small stuff. It says you're too cheap to spring for a $500 gizmo." And, maybe, it also says "a little about why you're on your way out in the first place."