Bonuses paid to Dow Jones executives

More than $1.6 million on bonuses were paid to three top Dow Jones executives, including the publisher of the Wall Street Journal and the managing editor of the paper, according to an 8-K filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CEO Richard Zannino received a bonus of $895,000, while Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz received a bonus of $412,000. ME Paul Steiger’s bonus was $299,250.

The company said in the filing that the bonuses were based on the operating profits, as well as “strategic objectives included the development or implementation of the Company’s strategic plan, improving market share, leadership development, creating a high performance culture, improving the Company’s use of technology, implementing new products and offerings and becoming more cost efficient.”

In 2005, Zannino’s bonus was $638,000, while Crovitz received a bonus of $310,000 and Steiger received a bonus of $200,000. In other words, all three saw an increase in their bonuses.

The proxy statement for the company has not yet been filed, so we don’t know how much their salaries increased in 2006 and whether they received anything in terms of stock options or other compensation.

Steve Yount, the president of the union representing business journalists currently negotiating with the company on a new contract, noticed the filing. In a posting on its web site, he wrote, “When it’s a choice of spending the money on themselves or spending it on you, they choose themselves. In fact the company has rejected our proposals to establish written guidelines for merit increases and written explanations of rejections.”