YOUNG James Murdoch is set to earn up to $20 million (more than £10 million) in his first year in charge of NEWS CORPORATION’s European and Asian businesses. According to a regulatory filing, the benefits of nepotism for the son of News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch include a base salary of $3.4 million and a performance-related bonus that could go as high as $15.9 million.
The Times came straight to the point and asked Piers Morgan — former editor of the DAILY MIRROR until his sacking in 2004 — how much he earned last year from his current activities as an author and television presenter. The reply was rather more evasive: “I don’t want to reveal too much as I’m going through a divorce, but it’s a good six figures — several multiples of the prime minister’s salary.” C’mon Piers. Surely you wouldn’t want the missus to end up with anything less than her fair entitlement?
FUTURE PUBLISHING chief executive Stevie Spring — who joined the company in July 2006, after it issued six consecutive profit warnings — earned £505,000 in the year ending 30 September 2007. The wedge includes a basic salary of £285,000, which rose to £305,000 from the start of last October. She also owned shares worth around £300,000.
Natasha Kaplinsky has taken up her post as newsreader with FIVE, on the reported salary of £1 miilion a year (last issue). This is what she has to say about it: “It’s an astonishing amount of money. I was shocked by it ... Five seem to think I am [worth it] but, no, how can anybody justify that? A dustman is worth £1 million for cleaning up the rubbish, as far as I’m concerned.” Or the people who write her scripts?