News Corp cuts Murdoch’s 2012 bonus
News Corp has cut this year’s bonuses for four top executives, including mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son James, after a phone-hacking scandal at the former British newspaper The News of the World, a regulatory filing showed.
News Corp’s compensation committee said in a filing last night with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that it “determined to award only half of the qualitative portion of the annual bonuses” to four top executives in fiscal year 2012.
The committee said it took into account the fallout from the hacking scandal, which has so far included litigation and settlement expenses, the closure of The News of the World and the withdrawal of its proposal to buy BSkyB.
As a result, Murdoch, the company’s 81-year old chairman and chief executive, earned a bonus of $10.4m (£6.5m) in fiscal year 2012, which ended on 30 June, the filing said.
Murdoch’s son and News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer James earned a bonus of $5m, the filing stated. The filing noted that James Murdoch declined to take his $6m bonus in fiscal year 2011 as a result of the hacking scandal.
News Corp Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer David DeVoe and Deputy Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey were also affected by the bonus cuts. DeVoe received an annual bonus of $4.17m, while Carey took home $8.3m.