The coronavirus crisis has had a fairly devastating effect on global finances, with the world experiencing unprecedented economic downturn and scores of people suddenly finding themselves up to their ears in money troubles they’d never expected themselves to be in. That doesn’t just apply to low and middle income earners as well. The top 1% are feeling the pinch too, bless their poor souls. And reports emerging this morning have confirmed that Rupert Murdoch is the latest absurdly rich man to have to make sacrifices. In this case, he is giving up his annual cash bonus this year. Woe.
Murdoch is reportedly giving up his annual cash bonus – a bonus of cash that he receives annually – in a bid to limit some of the financial hit that News Corporation is taking as a result of various pandemic-related factors.
In addition to that, News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson is forgoing 75% of his annual cash bonus, in a benevolent gesture.
A big part of the financial downturn News Corp is set to experience this quarter involves its sports-based subscription streaming service Kayo, which has taken a significant user hit due to the pandemic.
With no live sport to broadcast from virtually anywhere in the world, Kayo has reportedly washed off a third of its paid subscriber base in just two months. As of May 2nd, Kayo is said to have around 272,000 paying subscribers, which is well down on figures reported on March 31, when it had 408,000.
News Corp’s third quarter revenue for the three months to the end of March this year was down 8% on the year prior, and the company has informed investors to brace for fourth quarter results to bare the full force of pandemic downturn.
“Pay reductions will be led by our Executive Chairman, Rupert Murdoch, who is voluntarily forgoing his entire cash bonus for the current fiscal year, and as chief executive I will forgo 75 per cent of my annual cash bonus. The collective cuts in bonuses and other cost initiatives will have a positive impact on profitability and our cash position,” Thomson stated earlier this morning.
Foxtel itself has undergone multiple rounds of redundancies since the pandemic hit, wiping some 270 staff off the books and furloughing hundreds more in a bid to keep costs down.
For those staff, it should come as some comfort then that their parent company’s boss is only taking 75% of his cash bonus this year.
