Monday, December 18, 2006

Pruitt to earn $1.1 million next year

The McClatchy Co. chief executive officer Gary Pruitt will earn $1.1 million next year, a 4.8 percent increase from his salary this year, according to documents filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Pruitt, the highest-paid chief executive of a publicly traded company in the Sacramento region, could earn another $1.38 million from an annual bonus if he reaches specific performance goals that have not been determined.

The Sacramento-based company bought Knight-Ridder this past summer, adding 20 newspapers -- and selling off a dozen others, including the Akron Beacon Journal, San Jose Mercury-News and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The deal made McClatchy the nation's second-largest newspaper chain. Its publications include The Sacramento Bee, Star Tribune of Minneapolis and the Miami Herald.

McClatchy's compensation board also detailed the base salary and maximum bonuses for other senior executives this week. Vice presidents of operations Bob Weil and Frank Whittaker will each earn $600,000 next year, with a 60 percent of base salary as a maximum bonus -- or $360,000 each. Vice president and chief financial officer Pat Talamantes' salary is $500,000 with a 55 percent maximum bonus, while vice president of news Howard Weaver will earn $400,000 with a 50 percent of salary bonus target.

Shares of McClatchy inched up 4 cents to $41.20 in trading Friday.

[Source: Sacramento Business Journal]

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