|
||
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
||
|
|
Issue No. 148 | 16 August 2002 |
|
||
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Peak Performance
Interview: Labor Law Unions: Critical Conditions Bad Boss: Shifting The Load History: Peeking Out Safety: Flying High Corporate: Salaries High, Performance Low International: War on the US Wharves Review: And the Signs Said... Poetry: Tony Don't Preach Satire: Latham Dumps Rodney Rude as Speech Writer
Politics The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Human Rights
 Miranda's Not Fair on OutworkersAnother Capitalist Party?Justice For All?Kill the Photos!Right Wing Lackies
|
|
|
Corporate Salaries High, Performance Low
Profits are down for the top 500 companies but executive salaries are still on the rise. The total net profit of the top 500 listed companies in Australia fell 32 per cent for the latest half-year (which, for most companies, was the six months to December 31, 2001) yet executive salaries did not fall to match the poor performance ... in fact they rose about 7 per cent across the board. Some senior executives did take cuts after their poor performance however these examples are limited and were far from proportionate with the drop in overall company profit. National Australia Bank suffered a 52.5 per cent fall in net profit for the last 6 months, however Frank Cicutto still earned 2,927,291--a 7 per cent rise from the previous year. Woodside fell 37.9 per cent while CEO, J. Ankehurst's, salary rose 15.2 per cent to $2,081,110. Rio Tinto's profits fell 77.8 per cent and Leigh Clifford took a whopping 2.67 per cent pay cut to $2,355,404--how does he get by? AMP's net profit fell 54.2 per cent so Paul Batchelor felt it only fair he receive a 20 per cent pay cut to a measly $3,342,000. Australian CEOs are the third-highest paid in the world after America's and Britain's. Chief executives now earn an average of $1.4 million - up 7 per cent on the previous year. The average wage is just under $40,000. A pensioner earns $200 a week, or $10,000 a year. In 1976, according to one estimate, CEOs earned three times the average wage. Today the average CEO, taking executive share options and bonuses into account, is paid 30 times the average wage. (source: The Australian) Executives continue to expect full remuneration despite poor performances and increasingly, executives are walking away from bad situations with their bonuses. For instance, News Corporation went from a profit to a loss, the CFO still got a substantial bonus. Australian Gas Light Company with dwindling profits still made a large payment to the CEO. Pacific Dunlop has performed badly for some time, but again the departing CEO still got a bonus payment. Shareholders, through their boards, must enforce executive pay cuts in cases of poor performance--too few executives will take it upon themselves to do so. As one punter plainly put it "ANYONE could go in and lose a company $500 million...it takes a senior executive to expect to get paid for it."
CEO remuneration packages of the top 10 public companies
Poor PerformersRio Tinto Profits down 77.8% and although CEO, Leigh Clifford's remuneration took a slight fall from the previous year--down 2.6 per cent--there was an overall 30 per cent rise in senior executive wages. The six highest paid executives pocketed $9,353,000 up from $7,255,139 the previous year.
R L Clifford: $2,355,404 National Australia Bank Prior to its 52.5 per cent drop in profits, NAB spoke of a plan to cut $20 million from its senior executive salary pool and to halve bonuses paid to chief executive Frank Cicutto and other senior executives. However, Frank Cicutto's remuneration rose 24.7% to $ 1,921,408 and the top 5 executive salaries rose 31.7% to $7,493,373 from the 2000 total of $5,686,638.
Frank J Cicutto: $1,921,408 AMP The economic downturn saw a 54.2per cent drop in this offshore investment giant. At the same time executive salaries took a battering. CEO, Paul Batchelor, took home $3,342,000 down from $4,192,000 the year previously and R. Yates took a massive decrease to $3,993,000, down from $5,734,000 the year before. One of very few, AMP's board stripped over 30 per cent off the wages of the top five executives from $15,839,000 to $10,451,000.
R. Yates: $3,993,000 QBE Insurance QBE went from a profit to a loss as its executives imbibed huge salary increases. Frank O'Halloran had a 61 per cent salary increase to put him over the million mark. The top six executive salaries rose 30 per cent to $7,292,000 from $5,611,000...a huge increase when you consider $3 million of last years total was spent paying out retiring executive R. Grant.
FM O'Halloran: $1,139,000 Woodside Petroleum Profits fell 37.9 per cent while Akehurst enjoyed a up 15.2 per cent pay increase. In all, the top five senior execs helped themselves to an 18.8 per cent increase from $5,267,167 the previous year to $6,260,469 this year.
JH Akehurst: $2,081,110 Ten Network Profits fell a whopping 80 per cent on the same time last year and remarkably John McAlpine celebrated with a 19.3 per cent pay rise. Overall, the top five executive salaries rose 6.1 per cent to $3,610,894.
J McAlpine: $1,163,333 News Corporation This is an amazing story... just look at the numbers. The single biggest contributor to the fall in overall Australian earnings was News Corporation, which reported a loss of $1.04 billion for the December half--its second consecutive loss.
2001/2002
K R Murdoch: $14,406,844
2000/2001
K R Murdoch: $ 67,030,420
More CEO SalariesAGL profits down 60.2%... G. Martin $821,447 Amcor profits up 19.6%... Russell Jones $4,545,001 Amrad Corporation Consecutive Loss ...Dr Sandra Webb $819,284 Brambles Industries profits down 10.3%...Sir C. K. Chow $2,225,000 Brickworks profits down 39.9%...Lindsay Partridge $385,000 Caltex Loss to loss... Tony Blevins $675,528 Coles Myer up 8.2% from loss...John Fletcher $4,585,000 David Jones profits down 10.8%...Peter Wilkinson $1,305,001 Hutchinson Telecomm loss to loss...Barry Roberts-Thomson $710,023 Jupiters profits down 14.7%...Rob Hines $2,865,000 Magellan Petroleum consecutive loss...J. Kelly $365,000 Newcrest Mining profits down 38%...Tony Palmer $1,030,500 Novogen loss to loss... Christopher Naughton $375,000 Nufarm Profit to loss...Doug Rathbone $2,634,995 Orica profit to loss...Malcolm Broomhead $2,985,000 Publishing & Broadcasting profits up 17%...Peter Yates $5,275,000 Timbercorp profits down 90.8%...Robert Hance $275,000 Sources: Bosswatch database, BRW, Miriam Cirsic, The Australian, Business Sunday, Company Reports and http://www.asx.com.au 
|
| Search All Issues | Latest Issue | Previous Issues | Print Latest Issue |
|
© 1999-2002 Workers Online 
|
|
