MICHAEL GRADE picked up nearly £2 million in his first year as chairman of ITV, according to the annual report. On top of a salary of £813,000, he got £81,000 in benefits, £73,000 in lieu of a pension and a staggering bonus of £967,000. ITV justified this on grounds of “shareholder value creation”. The bonus was 117.5 per cent of basic pay, less than the 150 per cent maximum he could presumably have earned had the share price not halved.
Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of PEARSON, enjoyed a rise of 19 per cent to £2.33 million, made up of £900,000 salary, £1,341,000 in incentives and £52,000 in other allowances, including £41,760 for housing costs and £10,446 “US payroll supplement”. John Makinson, head of Pearson’s Penguin Books, received £1.45 million, while FT Group chief executive Rona Fairhead got £1.21 million.
Former SMG acting chief executive Donald Emslie had a payoff of £535,000 after leaving the Scottish broadcaster last year. That was after £119,000 in salary for less than four months’ work and £30,000 in benefits.
Other chief executive salaries recently reported for last year include:
Tim Bowdler of JOHNSTON PRESS: basic salary £556,000, bonus of £516,000 and benefits of £16,000.
Sir Crispin Davis, REED ELSEVIER: a 19 per cent increase to £2,431,236, including £1,135,680 basic, a bonus of £1,267,419 and benefits of £28,137.
CHANNEL 4’s Andy Duncan: total £1.2 million (double what he got in 2006 despite the premium rate phone-in scandal). It includes a loyalty bonus of £450,000, and he will get the same this year, simply for sticking in the job.
Sly Bailey, TRINITY MIRROR: overall remuneration more than £1.5 million, made up of salary of £721,000, a pension contribution of £240,000, benefits of £11,000 and a maximum bonus of £793,000.