So it devotes one article to one side, and six words (a quote of a quote) to the other side. That doesn't seem very even handed. News outlets profit when people get outraged; why would you trust this one to be disinterested?

Could that mean that the condition was immediate payment? (Salary,bonus, stock, ...)

Or it could have been that he only gets paid if that very specific project would make profit, etc.

There’s many way to write such a contract.