Trinity Mirror is reportedly under pressure from several major shareholders to ‘rein in’the pay package of chief executive Sly Bailey following news the company plans to shed 75 editorial staff across its national titles.
Bailey’s £1.7m pay packet for last year, including a £660,000 cash bonus, has been repeatedly criticised by the National Union of Journalists. Bailey know appears to be facing a growing revolt from some of the company’s biggest shareholders.
One top 10 shareholder told the Financial Times that Bailey’s pay was ‘just not tenable”, adding: ‘It is out of kilter with the group’s performance and current size. It is premature to say we are demanding her head but we are looking at it all very keenly.”
A second top-ten shareholder was quoted as saying: ‘Sly hasn’t got a great many supporters now – not when she has lost so much and is so well paid.’
A third said they would raise the issue at a meeting with the company’s incoming chairman David Grigson.
Bailey’s pay rose 2 per cent to £1.7m last year, including a basic salary of £736,000, a cash bonus of £660,000 with an additional £248,000 in pension contributions.
It came amid widespread redundancies across it regional newspaper business and a 24 per cent slump in profits.
When she joined the company in February 2003, reports the FT, Trinity’s share price stood at 390p with a market capitalisation of £1.1bn – it is now valued at £119.1m and the shares closed yesterday at 46.25p.
Trinity’s next AGM is in May.
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