In 1992 when Richard Rosenberg, a friend of mine, was CEO of the Bank of America he bought Security Pacific Bank, headquartered in Los Angeles. Security Pacific's CEO was Bob Smith.
As with all corporations, Security Pacific was a warren of internal political fighting groups. It was the genius of Richard Rosenberg to offer Bob Smith a termination agreement of several million dollars in return for Smith telling him the intricacies of the internal political fighting at Security Pacific. Rosenberg was particularly interested in who were the outstanding officers and who were the deadwood.
After the merger, two young officers were promoted to the Bank of America board of directors. Several other officers were left behind to seek new job.
As far as I can tell, word spread in the merger and acquisition field and this final-tell-all given in return for a termination agreement became a standard feature of M & A.