buyouts

The Times is trying to reduce the size of its staff, because they feel they have more people than they need or, considering today's economy, than they can afford, so they offered people a sweet deal to voluntarily leave, which might include things like buying out stock options, profit-sharing, not-fully-vested pensions, severance pay, and unused sick days or vacation days. They'd offer quite a bit more than technically the person was due, so it might be in that person's economic interest to leave the job.