Big bonuses as GMG losses increase 77pc
GUARDIAN Media Group (GMG) revealed outgoing chief executive Carolyn McCall will take home a total pay and bonus package of £658,000 despite the firm’s losses widening 77 per cent to £171m for the year.
Her bumper remuneration package includes a bonus of £143,000. Mark Dodson, who quit as chief executive of the GMG’s regional business earlier this year after selling the iconic Manchester Evening News to rival Trinity Mirror, left with a £440,000 pay off.
The paper’s editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger received total remuneration of £411,000 despite taking a pay cut of £34,000.
GMG last year introduced a company-wide pay freeze after struggling to navigate through turbulent economic waters.Turnover at the group fell to £280m from £310.9m the year before.
The publisher of the Guardian and Observer newspapers factored in writedowns totalling more than £160m on investments in Emap and its GMG Radio business.
Cost savings of £26.2m – achieved through the shedding of 203 jobs and a restructuring of the business – helped drive operating losses before exceptionals at Guardian News and Media (GNM), the firm’s newspaper arm, down from £65.2m to £53.9m.
Operating profits at its joint ventures Emap and Trader Media Group, which includes Auto Trader, both fell.
McCall leaves the firm for easyJet next month.
Meanwhile, Mirror Group Newspapers announced it will shed 200 jobs as it presses ahead with the introduction of a new web-based content management system.