Despite the volatile climate for newspapers, it turns out that 2015 was a good year for The New York Times’ president and chief executive officer Mark Thompson.
Thompson nearly doubled his executive pay package to $8.7 million from $4.5 million, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.
The ceo logged his usual base salary of $1 million, but his overall compensation was boosted by a $2.7 million increase in stock awards, which totaled roughly $5 million. Thompson’s non-equity incentive plan more than doubled to $2.6 million.
Chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. saw a 14.9 percent dip in his total compensation package to $5.9 million, due mainly to negative changes in his pension value. Sulzberger’s base salary remained constant at $1.1 million, but his stock awards fell 2.7 percent to just under $2 million. His non-equity incentive plan compensation, which is tied to performance, grew 17.9 percent to $2.7 million.
Both vice chairman Michael Golden and executive vice president and chief financial officer James Follo experienced declines in their total compensation of 20.1 percent to $2.1 million and 27.2 percent to $2 million, respectively. Golden’s base salary remained at $627,000, while Follo saw a 2.5 percent bump in base pay to $557,114.
The total pay package for Meredith Kopit Levien, executive vice president and chief revenue officer, totaled $1.8 million. Her base salary amounted to $577,442. Levien’s prior-year package could not be learned as she was promoted to her current role in April 2015.