WTNH is owned by Lin Television. The following is from News Blues:
Lin Television, based in Providence, owns 27 local TV stations in 17 markets and, like most large broadcasting groups, has struggled to turn a profit in this difficult economy. Its stock price slid to just 45 cents a share in late 2008 and has since rebounded to $1.98.
Employees have been furloughed. Operating budgets have been slashed. Most Lin stations have posted double-digit declines in advertising revenue. Worse yet, Lin management is predicting revenue will shrink by another 13 percent this year.
Yet, when Lin held its shareholders meeting at WISH-8-CBS in Indianapolis on May 21, executives arrived in limousines and stayed at the lush downtown Conrad Indianapolis, the city’s only five-star hotel.
In its recently filed proxy statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Lin TV Corp. bragged that none of its corporate executives received performance-based bonuses in 2008.
But dig beneath the surface and you’ll see that Lin handed out “discretionary bonuses” to some of its executive officers, and, in some cases, the bonuses “exceeded the target” set in individual employment agreements. The “target” was 39.7% of executive salary.
The discretionary bonus for Lin President and CEO Vincent L. Sadusky (right) more than tripled from $125,000 to $425,000.
Sadusky earned a base salary of $500,000 but also got the $425K “discretionary” bonus, stock worth $163K, an “option award” of $498K, and deferred compensation of $49K. His 2008 paycheck totaled $1,645,044.
Scott M. Blumenthal, Lin’s executive VP for television, earned a base salary of $386,250, but his “discretionary bonus” tripled from $50,000 to $150,000. He was also given $125K in stock, an “option award” of $244K, and deferred compensation of $173K. His final 2008 paycheck came to $1,079,592.
In his letter to shareholders, Sadusky admitted that “financially, 2008 was disappointing.” He predicted that “2009 will likely result in the largest ad revenue decline in decades.” And he added: “Know that your team at Lin TV is making the decisions necessary to be fiscally responsible.”
In 2007, Lin showed a net income of $53,682,000.
In 2008, Lin posted a net LOSS of $830,364,000.
Its top seven executives earned $5,241,302.
None of the seven has taken a voluntary furlough.
