Why Murdoch prefers the American way on pay

[Swagman]

October 18, 2011 - 2:01PM
Stephen Mayne
Since News Corporation shifted its domicile from Australia to the shareholder unfriendly state of Delaware in the US back in 2004, executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has been paid $US185.13 million ($182 million).

That's an average of $US26.45 million over the past seven years - a period when News Corp has underperformed other companies in the Australian top 10.

Over the previous six financial years through until June 30, 2004, Rupert was paid a total of $US64.41 million - an average of just $US10.7 million a year.

Unfortunately, News Corp shareholders have never been able to reflect directly on this sky-rocketing pay because the shift to Delaware coincided with Peter Costello's successful reform introducing the non-binding vote on remuneration reports for all Australian public company annual general meetings held after June 30, 2005.

Disclosure: Stephen Mayne is a director of the Australian Shareholders' Association, where he is company monitor for News Corp.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/why-murdoch-prefers-the-american-way-on-pay-20111018-1ltxn.html