**Editor’s Note: Please click here for our extensive coverage of the proposed Level 3-tw telecom merger.**

Merging with Level 3 Communications means big golden parachutes for top tw telecom management if they aren’t a part of the combined company.

Five executives, including CEO Larissa Herda, will share $88 million in cash and stock, the Denver Post reported. Herda will get almost half of that (approximately $42 million) as part of acquisition-related terms laid out in her employment contract. (Herda has said she will not join Level 3.) John Blount, president and COO, is poised to get $21.2 million; Mark Peters, CFO, $16.2 million; Jill Stuart, chief accounting officer, $5.7 million; and Tina Davis, general counsel, $3.5 million, the Post estimated.

Network operator Level 3 announced this week it will buy tw telecom for $5.7 billion and assume another $1.6 billion of debt. Look for the deal to close before the end of the year, assuming closing conditions are met and it gets regulatory approval. Both companies are based in the Denver area. 

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