Well, had he been fired the whole thing would've ended up in Court as he tried to get the full amount of his contract period (so all contractually defined payments until the end of his contract) plus likely all bonuses, while the company would be trying to prove he was fired for cause, all of which would be quite a public display of dirty laundry, at the end of which one side would lose and quite likely and indirectly both sides would lose.

Meanwhile, he wouldn't just accept to leave by his own hand "for the good of the Company" without compensation.

So that's how you end up with him "retiring" (legally he's the one leaving) with a golden umbrella (his compensation for doing so rather than drag it through the courts).

I'm almost certain that the Board fucked-up and don't want to see themselves personally trashed in Court whilst the company tried to prove the CEO had severely mismanaged, hence went for the "give him money for leaving quietly and not involving the Courts" option.

Ultimatelly the ones that should be held to account are the Board who hired him and apparently were either directly behind that genious idea of screwing their relationship with their customers or were behind him when he pushed that idea out. This is why in another post I very clearly state that the Board needs to be kicked out to begin to start restoring the trust of the customers.

PS: That said, the system is broken, which is how the seriously incompetent Board members (as amply demonstrated by them hiring him and this whole thing going ahead on their watch) ended up in their cozy sinecures, risk-free with their backs covered using the company's money, and also why he was hired in the first place with the kind of contractual conditions he got.

that’s why I put the “choose” into air quotes.

Air quotes? heh.