Ti me execs don’t sell, they get paid

On the same day Time Inc. decided to end a protracted process to sell itself with no deal, it also quietly released some eye-popping compensation numbers for its top executives.

Joe Ripp was booted upstairs from CEO to executive chairman of the board in September, but his total 2016 compensation was $7.5 million — up from $5.7 million a year earlier.

Ripp’s package included stock grants, a bonus and a base salary of $1.1 million. One perk in Ripp’s package was $63,968 for the pilot on his personal jet. The company said that figure includes the “deadhead” runs in which the pilot flew an empty airplane back to his or her home between flights for Ripp.

Richard Battista, who has succeeded Ripp as CEO, pulled in $5,766,870 in total compensation in 2016, including a base salary of $950,577. Jennifer Wong, the chief operating officer, pulled in $2,357,781 including a base salary of $572,115.

Even two executives who were booted are still pulling in big bucks. Evelyn Webster, an executive vice president who left in 2016, was paid $3,343,695, up from her 2015 compensa- tion of $2,503,743. Jeffrey Bairstow, a Ripp ally and former chief financial officer, received total compensation of $3,496,879, up from $3,341,492.

The numbers are sure to stir more anger as the company heads into another round of cost cutting.

Time’s “no sale/no deal” announcement came before the market opened and sent the stock skidding before closing Friday at $15.20, down 17 percent, or $3.10 a share.

A “strategic” turnaround plan now calls for the publisher of People, Sports Illustrated, Time and InStyle to manage costs, expand its digital businesses and diversify through brand extensions. The troubled publisher said there could also be selloffs as part of “selective portfolio rationalization.”

With only 30 percent of its revenue derived from digital, a quick turnaround at Time will be tough to execute, according to analysts. The company has been pursuing a digital-first strategy from the time of its spinoff from Time Warner in mid-2014.

“They haven’t gotten to the inflection point where the rise in digital is offsetting the decline in print,” said one Wall Street analyst. He predicted that the shift won’t happen until late 2018.