"Helping it along by offering the target CEO a good job at the combined company after he’d already been fired is much weirder, though. It’s more or less okay for a CEO to try to preserve his job in a merger; it’s awkward for him to try to rescue his job that way."

I find it hard to believe a F500 CEO cares that much about keeping their job after an acquisition. Presumably he has a bunch of options/grants that will be worth a fuckton due to the 30% premium Fuji would pay. Plus it's good for the resume. Look at Monsanto's Hugh Grant. He'll be loaded so he doesn't need to take a title-cut to be CEO of a subsidiary to keep some piddly 7-figure salary, and he can find another job without too much trouble if he does decide to keep working.