HP invested millions more in stock and compensation for its CEOs during 1999, paying the price for changing top executives to give the company a new corporate direction. Counting money paid to its incoming and outgoing chief executives, HP shelled out more than $15 million in compensation — without counting millions in stock it awarded to its new CEO.

HP reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission document filed January 14 that it paid outgoing chairman Lew Platt almost $5 million in officer’s early retirement pay, as well as a $3.1 million bonus paid for meeting performance objectives. Platt, who ended a 33-year career with HP in December and joined the Kendall-Jackson Winery as CEO, also was paid accrued sick leave of $593,604, according to the HP filing.

The total compensation paid to Platt for his last year at HP was more than $12 million, including bonuses and his regular compensation of $1 million a year. Platt held stock worth more than $8 million on his departure. HP reported that he lost $2.3 million in stock last year, when HP didn’t meet three-year performance goals for a period ending in October 1998. HP had exceeded its performance goals for the period that ended in the prior year.

The HP report also identified the signing bonus and compensation for incoming CEO Carly Fiorina, a package that included $36,343 of mortgage assistance and a relocation allowance of $187,500. HP paid a $3 million signing bonus to the new CEO and awarded her more than 580,000 shares of HP stock. The stock had a value at presstime of more than $62 million.