Categories: OLD Media Moves

Ailes receives News Corp. stock due to Fox Business performance

Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive officer of Fox, a News Corp. subsidiary, has received stock in the parent company due to the financial performance of Fox Business Network.

News Corp.’s proxy, which was released Friday, states, “In addition, pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement, Mr. Ailes is also entitled to receive an award of 250,000 shares of our Class A Common Stock when EBITDA of the Fox Business Channel is equal to or greater than $0 (the ‘Bonus Stock’). Accordingly, based on the achievement of this milestone for fiscal 2011, Mr. Ailes was awarded 250,000 shares of Class A Common Stock in fiscal 2012.”

In other words, Fox Business Network, which launched in October 2007, broke even during the past fiscal year.

The stock was trading at $16.25 on Friday afternoon, making the shares worth a bit more than $4 million to Ailes.

In addition, Ailes also received a $5 million salary and a $1.5 million bonus during the 2011 fiscal year. His total compensation for the year was $15.5 million, up from the $13.9 million he received the year before.

According to the proxy, Ailes would receive 350,000 shares when the EBITDA of the Fox Business Network is equal to or greater than $100 million.

The proxy can be found here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.