£13m pay cut for Sky boss (but he still gets £5m)

THE boss of Sky saw his pay fall by almost three quarters last year, but will still take home £4.7m, according to the latest annual report.

Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of the media giant that broadcasts Game of Thrones, took home a fraction of the £17.9m seen last year because the firm’s long-term incentives only pay out every other year.

He still benefited from a £2m bonus and his base salary broke through the £1m mark for the first time, rising 3pc to £1.01m. He received £1.5m from another Sky investment plan.

James Murdoch, son of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, earned £153,000 as a non-executive director during the period, but will receive £400,000 after being appointed chairman on April 30.

The firm has had a bumper year. It reported in June a 12pc rise in full-year profit on the back of new products and a focus on sport and original drama.

The broadcaster added 808,000 customers across its operations in Britain and Ireland, Germany and Austria, and Italy in the year. Sky said it expected revenue growth of 5-7pc, topping market forecasts of 5pc in the year to the end of June 2017.

During the year Sky also estimated cost savings from the integration of Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia would rise to £400m by 2020, from £200m by 2017, and said it would separately reduce costs by 2-3pc of sales next year.

Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox owns a 39.1pc stake in Sky.

The shares rose 0.35pc, or 23p to 862p.