Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch was caught in the storm gathering over executive pay when he was forced to scrap a lucrative options plan for senior News Corporation management, including his two sons. Mr Murdoch told shareholders at the company’s annual meeting in Adelaide that he was withdrawing the proposal in the face of stiff opposition from Australian investors. The contentious compensation plan would have delivered a total of three million non-voting preferred shares at A$9.89 (about 5.86 euros) to a handful of executives.
The preferred shares closed on Wednesday at A$10.31. “We have a very large world-wide company and I need to be able to recruit the best possible talent for my executive bench. I have to pay them market prices,” he said. Mr Murdoch had ruled out using the votes of his Cruden investment arm, which owns 30 per cent of News Corp, because he could ultimately benefit from the proposal himself.
Source: http://media.guardian.co.uk/rupertmurdoch/story/0,11136,1063859,00.html
– Media Guardian