When Knight Ridder is sold to McClatchy this summer, its top corporate executives will leave the San Jose newspaper company with nearly $57 million in incentive payments, according to a government filing made Wednesday.
About $27 million will be paid to the top five Knight Ridder executives with the balance going to ``other executive officers.''
The payments were disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by McClatchy, which is buying Knight Ridder for $4.5 billion and assuming $2 billion in Knight Ridder debt.
A Knight Ridder shareholders' meeting is scheduled for June 26 to vote on the acquisition by McClatchy. Assuming the sale is approved, Knight Ridder Chairman and Chief Executive Tony Ridder will receive $9.4 million in incentive pay, about $2 million higher than previously disclosed.
Senior vice presidents Steven Rossi, Hilary Schneider, Art Brisbane and Mary Jean Connors will each get between $4.3 million and $4.5 million.
The other officers receiving incentive pay were not named. There are 14 other executive officers at the vice president level.
The officers also receive three years of medical coverage and life insurance, plus their regular pensions.
The top five officers also get immediate vesting of their stock options. The filing said that at the end of last year, Ridder's options were worth $3.5 million, Rossi's were worth $2.25 million, Schneider's were valued at $13,400, Brisbane's were worth $57,645 and Connors' were worth $2.7 million.
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There's an old law of economics that seems to apply in the case of our beloved KR execs and the golden parachutes they've constructed from our sweat: "Thems what has, gots."
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