According to that contract, sale of the company counts towards payment of our retention money a month or so after. Will this happen?
That's only if you get separated i.e. laid off from the company before Dec 31, 2012. It's mentioned in the letter.
The Retention Contract is different than the slides. The slides say we get it 30 days after a change in control of the company, but the contract says we get it 30 days after, if we're separated from the company. There's nothing in the contract about everybody getting it. Looks like there's an "accidental discrepancy" between the two. Strange, huh?