And no wonder he was a little peeved – insiders say Pieper, who’s reign at Unix System Laboratories Inc looks to be drawing to an end, could lose as much as $4m if indeed Novell Inc’s formation of a Unix Systems Group under Kanwal Rekhi means that his star fades and ultimately disappears from this latest Unix universe – it seems that from the time Pieper took over Larry Dooling’s positions as president and chief executive of Unix Labs in November 1991, details of his commensurate compensation and share option package – which would presumably have included provision for the kind of eventuality commentators are now forecasting – were never finalised and insiders say Pieper will walk away with just $2m of the $6m he could have expected; he says the estimates are too high.
