James Murdoch awarded £4m bonus for hitting targets

by Ben Bold, Brand Republic 15-Aug-07, 09:05

LONDON - James Murdoch, the BSkyB chief executive, has received a £4m cash bonus after the broadcaster met a number of performance goals over the last three years, including increasing customer numbers and raising profits.

The bonus adds to the £3m remuneration package Murdoch has already received for the financial year to the end of June.

However, according to reports, the potential successor to Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation chairman and chief executive, missed out on a further payout of £1.6m because BSkyB failed to hit share price targets over the last three years. BSkyB's share price has risen from 460p in mid 2004, and currently stands at 666p.

Last month, Sky reported a 10% jump in revenues to £4.5bn as it put in a strong performance for the year ended June 30, during which it added 406,000 new subscribers to reach 8.58m

Sky also revealed that Murdoch's salary for the last year rose 15%. His total remuneration package, including pension, increased to £2,993,124. On top of his base salary of £950,000, he was awarded a maximum allowable bonus of £1.9m, £67,474 in benefits, and a pension payment of £75,650.

Jeremy Darroch, Sky's chief financial officer, received a 5% pay rise, bringing his remuneration package up from £1,324,958 in 2006 to £1,423,752.