Pearson
chief executive Dame Marjorie Scardino has been given a bonus of more than
£270,000 this year – despite the group’s flagship newspaper, the Financial
Times, being in the red.
Scardino
waived her £157,000 bonus entitlement last year as a fierce advertising
recession hit.
But
this week’s publication of Pearson’s annual report shows that Dame Marjorie
received a basic salary and benefits for 2002 worth £579,000. She was then
granted an annual bonus of £273,000. In the same year the company’s share price
dropped 27 per cent.
Other
media companies – Reed Elsevier, Reuters, Granada TV and Carlton Communications
– have also come under fire recently for awarding large bonuses.