Dame Carolyn off to a flier as head of ITV
DAME Carolyn Mccall, ITV’S new chief executive, has secured a higher longterm pay packet than her predecessor Adam Crozier, as she was confirmed as the broadcaster’s first female chief executive.
Dame Carolyn, who will join ITV next January from airline easyjet, has been hired on a package which could deliver a maximum potential payout of £25.2m during her first five years at the helm. Her predecessor Mr Crozier could have pocketed up to £24.94m during the same period.
Dame Carolyn will take home a base salary of £900,000, £41,000 lower than Mr Crozier’s, while her pension allowance will be 15pc of her salary, reduced from the 25pc rate enjoyed by her predecessor. She will be on the same maximum annual bonus of 180pc of salary. However, she is in line to earn more over the longer term, thanks to a larger longterm share incentive plan worth 265pc of her salary – the result of the company’s new pay policy – compared to Mr Crozier’s 225pc deal.
She is also getting a golden handshake to cover £5m in estimated share awards she is foregoing at the airline.
Details of Dame Carolyn’s remuneration came as she was confirmed as the new ITV boss, pipping a shortlist said to include to the bosses of Direct Line and Dixons Carphone, Paul Geddes and Sebastian James. Her appointment was welcomed by investors, who took a shine to the turnaround job she has performed over seven years at the airline and her past media experience as chief executive of Guardian Media Group. ITV’S share price closed 1.3pc up at 177.3p.
Tasmin Garrity, analyst at Jefferies, said Dame Carolyn would “complement a creative chairman at ITV” in the form of Sir Peter Bazalgette, the former chairman and creative chief of Big Brother maker Endemol.