Virgin Media O2 Owner Paid CEO $62 Million, Far More Than Rivals

(Bloomberg) --

Virgin Media O2 co-owner Liberty Global Plc paid Chief Executive Officer Mike Fries $62 million in 2021, much more than other telecommunications CEOs in Europe.

On top of a $2.6 million salary, he was paid stock awards worth $1.5 million, option awards worth $41.7 million, a further incentive payment of $15.5 million, as well as other compensation worth about $729,000 like a life insurance premium and a holiday gift, according to a proxy report filed Friday.

By comparison, the most recent published pay packet for Vodafone Group Plc chief Nick Read was 3.6 million pounds ($4.5 million). London-based Liberty and Newbury, England-based Vodafone both operate groups of phone, broadband and TV companies in Europe.

“Our CEO's compensation is almost entirely at risk, 95% of it is performance-based with nearly two-thirds based on share price performance,” a Liberty Global spokesman said by email. “Annual equity compensation that would normally be granted in 2022 was shifted into 2021, with the combined amount issued as share appreciation rights.”

That means compensation for 2022, when reported, will be “significantly lower,” the spokesman said.

Fries, who has 120 hours a year personal access to the company's corporate jet, “over-performed” for the year and earned 110% of his 2021 bonus, a portion of which he then asked be paid out to other top executives, the report said.

The ratio of his pay to the median employee was 456 to one.

About a third of Liberty Global shareholders voted against the company's compensation policy last year, and have rebelled in the past. However, super-voting shares give Fries and Chairman John Malone -- known as the “Cable Cowboy” because of his decades-long career at the top of the sector -- almost 40% of the votes, according to research from Berenberg.