Eric Cantor plans to join investment bank Moelis & Co. as vice chairman and managing director, where he will earn a salary of $3.4 million, the company announced in an SEC filing this morning. Cantor will also join the bank's board.
The former House majority leader will earn an annual base salary of $400,000, plus a onetime cash payment of $400,000 and $1 million in stock options, the company said. For FY2015, Cantor will also earn a minimum of $1.2 million in cash and $400,000 in stock options as incentive pay (read: bonuses).
With all that cash, the former majority leader of the House should have no trouble paying for a place in New York. Except that he won't have to, because Moelis is also paying for "the reasonable cost of a New York City apartment for his first 12 months and a hotel equivalent rate thereafter." What's "reasonable?" Unclear, but it's safe to assume the former majority leader of the House won't be living in a fifth-floor walkup in Bushwick.
The CEO of Moelis & Co., Ken Moelis, has known Eric Cantor for "about three years," according to a spokesperson for Moelis & Co. "And when Eric was thinking about his next career move or next chapter after the election, he and Ken got together the weekend before the July the 4th holiday. That was just a talk about Eric's options, as it were, looking ahead," she said.
Talks became serious later in July, the spokesperson said.
Cantor was ousted from his Virginia House seat in June in a stunning loss to an unknown and underfunded Tea Party challenger.
He had worked at his family's real estate development business before being elected to Congress.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Cantor as speaker of the House. He was the House majority leader.
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