For this guy to be paid for all his previous work for which he was supposedly very much underpaid just like almost every open source dev out there. For relinquishing control of the project to a new non-profit he can have 10 million for all i care. From the original announcement:

For our team, a vital aspect of getting this restructuring right was making sure that Eugen was compensated fairly for Mastodon’s brand trademark, assets, and the 10 years he spent building Mastodon into what it is today (while taking less than a fair market salary). Based on replacement costs, Eugen’s time and effort, and the fair market value of the Mastodon brand, its associated properties, and the social network, we settled on a one-time compensation of EUR 1M. We are deeply grateful for his past contributions, and look forward to his contributions still to come.

The articles I've seen say that it was for the past 10 years of work, some amount of which was unpaid

techcrunch.com/2025/11/18/mast…

With the revamp, Mastodon has the potential to expand its business, product, and mission, without being dependent on a single person’s leadership. It will also give Rochko a break, as he’s been singularly focused on Mastodon for the past 10 years.

Going forward, Rochko will continue contributing to Mastodon as an adviser. He has also been compensated with a one-time payment of €1 million, given that he took less than a fair market salary over the years while building Mastodon.

I don't have insight into the decision making process that went into deciding on that amount, maybe it's less than what he should have been compensated for, maybe it's more. But it sounds like they reached that decision amicably

Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures | TechCrunch

Eugen Rochko is stepping down as CEO of decentralized social network Mastodon. Felix Hlatky will now become the executive director as the company becomes structured as a nonprofit government by a board.

^{Sarah Perez (TechCrunch)}

In 2023, it was €5.000/month (source).

That‘s about as much as a full stack software developer makes in Germany working a 40h week (source).

Seeing that he was a CEO, definitely worked more than 40 hours per week and was the driving force behind Mastodon, I, as someone who supports them financially, am totally okay with him getting a big payout now.

I know nothing about the European software market, but translating this in American, $100,000/year for a principal developer and lead of a project of this scale is like paying him 33%-50% of a US salary for those 10 years.

I’m a firm believer that people - including open source contributors - should be compensated for their time when an avenue exists that doesn’t compromise the integrity of the project. Mastodon an amazing platform and I wish him, and the project, nothing but the best.

That Matthew Hodgson quote is good.

"Unhappy users tend to be disproportionately loud given the issues at stake, and there's a huge risk of optimizing to appease those who shout loudest in the short-term rather than find medium-term solutions which solve for everyone."

While a blow to the Fediverse community, Rochko's decision is understandable.

This looks more like healthy sustainable growth than "a blow" . Reducing the risk of burnout of the project lead, and transferring ownership of trademarks from an individual to a non-profit are good things for the long term