New York Times' New CEO Signs On For $1M A Year, Plus Incentives

Mark Thompson will be collecting a lot less as the Times' new CEO than his predecessor, Janet Robinson, did. The soon-to-be former Director-General of the BBC ' he starts at the Times in November ' will collect an annual salary of $1M, the company says in an SEC filing this morning. The board also targets a $1M annual incentive. To encourage him to leave the BBC, the Times awarded Thompson a sign-on bonus targeted at $3M. Half of it comes in an amount of stock that will be pegged to how well the Times' does in the market compared to the benchmark Standard and Poor's 500 in the period ending November 2015. He could get none of that $1.5M ' or it could go as high as $3M. The remaining 50% of the sign-on bonus is in stock options that vest in three annual installments. In addition, Thompson is entitled to a relocation benefit of three months housing and a maximum of $100,000 plus up to $25,000 to reimburse his legal fees for negotiating the contract. By contrast, the compensation package for Robinson ' who left the company in December ' came to $11.3M last year, $5.3M in 2010, and $6.7M in 2009.