TVNZ boss’ $400k bonus
"We’re upfront about the fact the CEO is the highest paid role within TVNZ."
Dame Therese Walsh, TVNZ chairwoman
Television New Zealand boss Kevin Kenrick banked more than $500,000 in extra payments last year, the broadcaster has revealed, taking his salary to more than $1.35m.
TVNZ’s entire profit was only slightly larger than its chief executive’s pay. It made $1.392m for the year – down a whopping $11.295m on the previous year.
Kenrick collected a $409,727 bonus payment in September 2016 for meeting ‘‘performance criteria’’ and that, with other extra payments, significantly bumped up his base pay of about $840,000.
He’s by far the highest-earner at the network, with their annual report disclosing today that three other staff earn more than half a million dollars a year. TVNZ do not have to disclose the names of those earners and have refused in the past to identify who their biggest on-screen bankers are.
The report also discloses a multimillion dollar loss on a contract to buy bulk programmes from Disney in the United States. TVNZ have allowed for a $12.4 million loss over the remainder of their deal with Disney saying it’s due to ‘‘deteriorating performance’’ of the shows and market changes. Kiwi networks seem to be shifting to more single-show deals with US networks although TVNZ said network deals remained important to them.
The station signalled its massive profit drop in August. Its profit plummeted by about 90 per cent.
In August, Kenrick said the drop in profit was largely due to the failed Disney contract. The shows TVNZ was paying for were being streamed online by rivals, he said. A spokeswoman said TVNZ had nothing to add to this statement.
Its profits had also taken a hit because of higher redundancy and reorganisation costs.
TVNZ’s major newsroom changes, which saw them make a series of redundancies and reorganise their regional news gathering, cost them nearly $2m in redundancy payments, the report says. In March, Kenrick said those cuts were needed to make the business ‘‘sustainable’’.
‘‘We’ve been open about restructuring the business to set us up for future growth. TVNZ operates in an industry undergoing unprecedented change and we will continue to reshape our business,’’ the spokeswoman said.
In September, TVNZ head of news John Gillespie did not rule out further cut backs to his newsrooms.
They also outlayed more than $56m on major refit of their headquarters on Hobson St in downtown Auckland.
Chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh defended Kenrick’s pay package, saying it had been based on independent advice.
‘‘We’re upfront about the fact the CEO is the highest paid role within TVNZ ... Kevin’s remuneration is based on independent market advice and the board’s assessment of his performance against specific objectives,’’ she said in a statement.
Walsh reported that total revenue had dropped by $8.1m or 2.5 per cent but declines in TV advertising were offset because TVNZ had grown their share of that market. They posted an after tax net profit of $1.4m for FY2017 down $11.3m on the previous year.
The second highest paid person at TVNZ pocketed just below $900,000. They were not named in the report.