James Murdoch Bonus

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James Murdoch Bonus – The bonus awarded to James Murdoch, News Corp. deputy chairman was turned down. The embattled company head didn’t feel it was appropriate to accept the large bonus at this time. News Corp has been in serious investigation during 2011.

The James Murdoch bonus was turned down because News Corp has been under investigation for the phone hacking scandal at one of their former news organizations. The British tabloid and oldest news paper in the the world, News of the World, was and is at the center of this scandal. The tabloid was discovered to be hacking the phone voicemail messages of their subjects to listen to messages and even erasing them as well.

James Murdoch Bonus

James Murdoch Bonus

Although there is much speculation if this phone hacking scandal runs throughout the entire News Corp organizations, James Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch both deny having any knowledge of this practice. They also deny it is a regular practice in their other news and magazine outlets.

James Murdoch and Rupert Murdoch both have been brought before British Parliament for questioning around the scandal. This happened in July. They have been asked to follow up on many of the answers for clarification since then. The investigation continues and is still ongoing.

James Murdoch has spoken out about the bonus. He says the performance metrics that decide his bonus has nothing to do with the phone hacking scandal, however, he feels declining the bonus is just the right thing to do at this moment.

He did go on to mention he will discuss with the Compensation Committee on a future date about the bonus. At that point, it may be deemed appropriate to accept, but not right now.

If James Murdoch were to accept the bonus, he would have made $17.9 million this year. This would have been a 74% increase in earnings for him from 2010 where he made $10.3 million. However, without the bonus, Murdoch will not struggle. He will still take home $11.9 million dollars at this point, so there is nothing for him to cry about at this point.

Rupert Murdoch $12.5 Million Bonus

On the other hand, James Murdoch’s father Rupert Murdoch accepts his $12.5 million bonus. There is no shame in his game as Rupert Murdoch decides to take the money. I think what has people puzzled is he doesn’t need the money at all. The man is a billionaire, but I guess you don’t make that sort of money by turning down a bonus.

By accepting the $12.5 million bonus, Rupert Murdoch earnings for the fiscal year of 2011 swells to 33.3 million dollars from the News Corp. organization. One of the richest men in the world, Rupert Murdoch continues to earn more money in a year than most people will make in a lifetime and this is likely just a fraction of the money he earns from his empire.

James And Rupert Murdoch Bonus Decisions

The reason I wanted to talk about this case today on Invest With Passion is because we have two different decisions made by family members on how to deal with the large bonuses they were offered. The father, Rupert Murdoch, decided to take the bonus and the son, James Murdoch, decided to turn it down. Why?

I believe Rupert Murdoch is just about at the end of his business career. Therefore, the public perception of him and his business practices mean very little to him moving forward. However, James Murdoch is still young and ambitious. He has big plans for the future and may still want to build some equity in his public perception. Therefore, turning the bonus down this year makes sense to his plans moving forward.

What do you think about the James and Rupert Murdoch decisions to turn down the bonuses? Does it even make a difference that James Murdoch is trying to garner some public points by turning the bonus down or are most people not even concerned with this decision? - James Murdoch Bonus