N.Y. Times Creates Bonus Pool
2 Executives to Skip Stock Awards to Reward Employees
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Friday, September 15, 2006
The two top executives of the New York Times Co. said yesterday that they will take pay cuts this year and next to create a bonus pool for employees.
Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the chairman of the Times Co., and his cousin and vice chairman, Michael Golden, said they will forgo stock compensation they would be due to receive in 2006 and 2007. The money will be used to "reward exceptional performance" by employees company-wide who are not already eligible for bonuses.
In a letter to employees, which was disclosed in a regulatory filing, Sulzberger and Golden said they expect the pool to be about $2 million each year. The money will be distributed in February 2007 and 2008.
Sulzberger had a salary of $1.06 million, a bonus of $561,000, stock awards of $817,500 and 150,000 stock options valued at $765,000 last year, according to a proxy statement.
Golden received a salary of $608,960, a bonus of $233,536 and 60,000 stock options valued at $306,000.
Like other newspapers, the Times has declining circulation and higher newsprint costs. The company, which owns the Boston Globe, has also struggled with a softening New England economy and falling advertising revenue.
"All the newspaper companies are under siege to some extent right now," said John Morton, a newspaper industry analyst. "It's been a difficult year following a not good year."
Morton described the bonus pool as a gesture "done for morale purposes," as the company has done buyouts and layoffs at the Times, the Boston Globe and elsewhere. "This is a way to try and let the employees know the management and family still cares about them."
The Times Co. announced this week that it will sell its broadcast media group, including nine U.S. television stations, to focus on building revenue at its newspapers and Web sites. The broadcast unit accounted for about 4 percent of company revenue last year and is estimated to have sales of about $150 million this year.
Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.
