Context is everything. Yesterday, I wrote about the compensation packages of GateHouse Media’s top two officials, chief executive Michael Reed and the just-promoted president and chief operating officer, Kirk Davis.
What I wrote was accurate, but I failed to consider what top executives might be making at other newspaper companies. As it turns out, there’s nothing special about Reed’s salary ($925,000 in 2007) or Davis’ (about $461,000). Reed’s 2006 compensation, $6.4 million, included a lot of stock, the value of which has presumably all but disappeared.
With 2007 revenues of $589 million, GateHouse is on the smaller end of the publicly traded newspaper companies I looked at this morning. But its challenges are as great or greater than those of much larger companies — it’s staggering under a debt load of $1.2 billion, and its stock price has fallen so much that it was delisted this fall by the New York Stock Exchange.
Anyway, here’s a quick cruise around a few other newspaper companies and what they paid their top managers in 2007, ranked by 2007 revenues.
Gannett Co. ($7.4 billion)
- Craig Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer: salary, $1.2 million; total compensation, $7,546,710
- Gracia Martore, chief financial officer, executive vice president: salary, $700,000; total compensation, $3,026,985
- Susan Clark-Johnson, chairwoman of U.S. community publishing: salary, $735,000; total compensation, $3,145,339
- Not-so-fun fact: Employees have been told to take a one-week unpaid furlough during the first quarter of 2009
- Financials from WSJ.com
New York Times Co. ($3.2 billion)
- Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman: salary, $1,087,000; total compensation, $3,439,280
- Janet Robinson, chief executive officer: salary, $1 million; total compensation, $4,142,410
- Michael Golden, vice chairman: salary, $1 million; total compensation, $1,706,579
- James Follo, chief financial officer and senior vice president: salary, $480,000; total compensation, $859,273
- Not-so-fun fact: A recent, widely disputed essay in the Atlantic speculates that the flagshap New York Times could cease publishing as early as this May
- Financials from WSJ.com
McClatchy Co. ($2.3 billion)
- Gary Pruitt, chairman and CEO: salary, $1.1 million; total compensation, $4,635,355
- Patrick Talamantes, chief financial officer and vice president for finance: salary, $500,000; total compensation, $938,970
- Three vice presidents of operations are paid salaries in the range of $500,000 to $600,000; total compensation is around $1.1 million apiece
- Not-so-fun fact: The debt-burdened chain is trying to sell the Miami Herald, but can’t find any takers
- Financials from WSJ.com
Journal Register Co. ($463 million)
- James Hall, chairman and chief executive officer: salary, $394,750; total compensation, 411,233
- Scott Wright, president and chief operating officer: salary, $201,923; total compensation, $231,040
- Julie Beck, executive vice president and chief financial officer: salary, $337,500; total compensation, $431,510
- Robert Jelenic, former chairman and chief executive officer: salary, $945,396; total compensation, $6,318,394 (Jelenic died last month)
- Not-so-fun fact: The deeply troubled company is closing some of its papers and selling off others
- Financials from the company’s 2008 proxy statement (PDF)
What’s the takeaway? Top executives at newspaper companies, like top executives everywhere, make a lot of money. We tend not to notice when times are good. But with the newspaper business under siege, such lavish compensation packages seem out of sync, both symbolically and substantively.
On the other hand, if any of these well-paid folks can find a way out of the current morass, they will be worth every cent.