Don't tell Dallas Morning News bigwigs that the newspaper business is in trouble: The A.H. Belo-owned Providence Journal reports this afternoon that Chairman Robert Decherd, Publisher Jim Moroney, President John McKeon and Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel made out pretty, pretty well during 2010. The paper added up some figures made in a filing with Securities and Exchange Commission today and discovered:
A.H. Belo CEO Robert Decherd's total compensation more than tripled to $1.87 million in 2010, up from $499,180 in 2009 [while] Dallas Morning News Publisher James Moroney earned $1.3 million in 2010, up from $478,090 in 2009; Morning News President and General Manager John McKeon earned $1.3 million in his first year on the job; Chief Financial Officer Alison Engel earned $800,001, up from $276,765; and Senior Vice President Daniel Blizzard earned $575,000, up from $211,228.The bonuses coincide with A.H. Belo's stock price jump during '10; it closed today at $8.25, not quite where it was at year's end but better than the good ol' days of $1.92. But as the ProJo notes, it's been three years since the higher-ups gave merit raises to those down below:
In a letter to employees last month, Decherd said A.H. Belo was reinstating the company's 401(k) match of 1.5% for the first half of this year. But he warned that it may be a long time before the company can hand out performance-based raises to rank-and-file workers.
