J. Murdoch wins 23% pay rise for taking Sky to new heights

[BGonaSTICK]

BSkyB boss J. Murdoch enjoyed a 23% pay rise last year, taking home a total of £2.75m, according to the company's annual report. The satellite TV group's chief executive and son of R. Murdoch collected a bonus of £1.65m as part of his earnings in the year to the end of June.

His pay compared with a total package of £2.23m, including a bonus of £1.2m, in the 2004-05 financial year. Mr Murdoch, who joined Sky in November 2003, was paid a basic salary last year of £825,000 and received benefits of £208,600. His pension contribution was £66,000.

Last year he also received 382,500 shares - currently worth £2.07m - which he can cash in in 2007 if Sky outperforms the FTSE 100 index. Mr Murdoch's bonus, which is calculated according to a range of performance targets, represented the maximum set by his contract.

Sky said the company's finance director, Jeremy Darroch, was paid £1.32m last year, up from £1.13m the previous year when he worked for only 10 and a half months. His pay package included a salary of £500,000 and a £760,000 bonus.

The report, sent to shareholders yesterday, also showed that R. Murdoch was paid £52,600 as Sky's chairman.

Since joining Sky, J. Murdoch has consolidated the group's lead in pay-TV and secured another three-year deal for live coverage of Premiership football, as well as looking to diversify sources of revenue with ventures such as a new broadband offering. The company remains on track to hit its target of 10 million subscribers by the end of 2010. Last year revenues rose by 8% to £4.15bn, with pre-tax profits up 1% from a year earlier to £798m. It has nearly 8.2 million pay-TV subscribers and has just launched high-definition TV and broadband services.