The bosses of Australia's Fairfax Media, chief executive David Kirk and his sidekick Brian McCarthy, are earning record pay as they make 550 staff redundant.
The company's annual report, released yesterday, reveals that Kirk received a total of $3.41m (£1.55m) in salary, bonuses, superannuation and shares for the 2007-08 financial year, a 24% rise from the previous year. The remuneration package for McCarthy, the company's Australian boss, was $2.43m (£1.1m).
News of their pay rises followed soon after Fairfax announced that the staff cull at one of its flagship newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald, was to rise from 60 to 70 journalists. It also comes barely a month after Kirk revealed that classified ad revenues were "leaking out of the bottom of the bucket".
Unsurprisingly, this has upset Fairfax journalists. They have worked out that Kirk is being paid the equivalent of more than 10 Australian prime ministers, and together Kirk and McCarthy earn more than the entire Australian cabinet.
(Sources: The Australian/Fair go,Fairfax)
