MySpace Execs Get Big Paydays

0

Top MySpace executives Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson have struck rich deals to continue working at the company, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. in 2005, the Los Angeles Times reports.


DeWolfe and Anderson each will get about $15 million to stay for two years, although that figure is contingent on the unit’s performance, according to people familiar with the arrangement.


The contract talks have been a subject of wide speculation and debate within News Corp., reflecting the tensions inherent in trying to keep high-powered Web executives within an old-media company. Internet entrepreneurs operating on their own can turn into billionaires with initial public stock offerings or dramatic stock-price increases.


The MySpace leaders’ annual rate of $7.5 million comes in just under the $8.1 million in base salary paid last fiscal year to Chief Executive Murdoch and President Peter Chernin and is well above the amounts given to other longtime executives. Including bonuses, stock grants and other compensation, Murdoch and Chernin each received more than $30 million.


MySpace Chief Executive DeWolfe and President Anderson didn’t get everything they wanted, people within News Corp. said on condition that they not be named. The duo had sought as much as $50 million each over the two years, plus expanded responsibilities and direct reporting to Murdoch.


Read the full L.A. times story

.(registration required)

No posts to display