£2,300-a-day bonus for music chief
ALAIN Levy, the executive hired to revive EMI's ailing music division, bagged a bonus worth more than £2,300 a day for his first five months in the job. The group also disclosed in its annual report that Levy's sacked predecessor, Ken Berry, walked away with £6m.
That's thought to be the largest pay-off in British corporate history and is £1m more than the City had expected.
Levy, former PolyGram president, took over as head of EMI's recorded music division in October. He received options that could earn him £70m if he takes the share price back to 800p, where it was three years ago. The stock closed down 7p at 234p on Thursday, 12% lower than when Levy joined EMI.
He was paid £317,000 for the five months ended March. But Levy also received a bonus of £350,000 for his efforts to turn the division around. These have led to 1,800 staff in the division losing their jobs, and 400 of its 1,600 artists being dropped.
EMI said Berry's pay-off reflected his contractual entitlements, including future bonuses. Berry, credited with signing the Spice Girls, had been earning £2m plus benefits a year. But he paid the price for a stagnant record buying market which led to a sharp fall in group pre-tax profits earlier this year.
The report also showed that group finance director Tony Bates was paid £1.7m in compensation following his departure in February. EMI chairman Eric Nicoli received a salary of £631,000, while the head of music publishing Martin Bandier picked up a package of £3.7m thanks to a strong performance in the division.
