Willes/mike1st/mark2nd

DO NOT CUT!!!!

Times Mirror Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Willes received a 34 percent pay raise in 1997, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Willes was paid $2.9 million last year a base salary of $905,770 and a bonus of $1.98 million. That’s up from his 1996 base salary of $798,076 and bonus of $1.35 million.

Willes’ pay raise outpaced the company’s earnings performance by a substantial margin.

Times Mirror’s 1997 net income of $250.3 million was about 21 percent more than the year-earlier figure. Meanwhile, the company’s share price since the start of 1997 has risen about 20 percent, closing at $63.50 on April 2.

Fully diluted earnings per share made a more impressive jump of 50 percent, to $2.29 over the year. That figure, however, was influenced by a stock repurchase program that reduced the number of outstanding Times Mirror shares to 87.9 million at the end of 1997, down from 96.7 million a year earlier.

Analysts remain impressed, noting that earnings rose despite stagnant revenues. And since Willes took over as chief executive in 1995, the company’s stock price has risen by more than 200 percent.

“If you talk to Mr. Willes, tell him that he deserves every penny he gets,” said Lanny Baker, an analyst with Salomon Brothers in San Francisco.

Jason Booth