I'm split on this myself. Devil's advocate, siding with the board he failed to make his goals during that time period and he also had opportunity to simply leave himself.
I think he was hedging that he would have been able to raise more VC to get through the snag, and when that didn't work It didn't appear there was a plan B.
I still say its ownerships problem - Someone cuts my pay and still keeps me in post - its clear I am polishing up the CV. I have been under someone (C*O not CEO) in similar situation, they put brave face on it but by second day everyone had called them a lame duck (behind their back) and routed around them for 3 months.
Hard to route around a CEO, but I suspect that the company was not setup to be the kind that could do dynamic routing. So Schumpter is just round the corner. Was not best of times and I suspect much worse in your case.
(#) I am sure there are actual words I could use but caffeine / blood ratio is dipping.
I do agree. Nothing says "thanks for your service but you should start looking for a new job" like a pay cut. I've seen some poor souls who hang on, hoping the money faucet gets turned on again, but it's very rare and you never make up the lost income.
I think he was hedging that he would have been able to raise more VC to get through the snag, and when that didn't work It didn't appear there was a plan B.