News Corp. CEO Thomson receives 10 percent increase in compensation

Robert Thomson

News Corp. chief executive officer Robert Thomson, the former editor of The Wall Street Journal, received a 10.1 percent increase in total compensation to $11.3 million during the company’s 2016 fiscal year, according to the company’s proxy statement filed Wednesday.

Thomson received $2.04 million in salary, $5.4 million in stock awards and $3.2 million in incentive plan compensation. He also received $394,453 in other compensation.

His total compensation during the 2015 fiscal year was $10.3 million.

News Corp. is the parent of Dow Jones & Co., which operates The Journal, MarketWatch.com, Barron’s and Dow Jones Newswires.

Thomson’s compensation increase is likely to upset the union representing business journalists at the company. It is currently negotiating a new contract with the company, but Dow Jones is refusing to agree to its proposed pay raises.

Executive chairman Rupert Murdoch received $5.3 million in total compensation for the 2016 fiscal year, up from the $5.1 million in total compensation from the 2015 fiscal year.

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.