Channel 4 boss could receive record annual pay of £1.4m

theguardian.com:

Alex Mahon could receive the highest annual income for a chief executive in Channel 4’s history, after the broadcaster avoided being privatised earlier this year.

The station’s bosses are set take home millions, while the cost of living crisis weighs heavily on many of its lower paid staff.

Mahon, who was awarded the maximum bonus payout possible by the corporation’s remuneration committee for 2021, could receive almost £1.4m in total remuneration for 2022 if she is deemed to have once again hit the top performance targets.

Channel 4’s almost 1,000 staff also benefit from the performance of the company, although the broadcaster’s annual report shows that the pay gap between top management and regular staff is widening quickly.

Mahon was paid £1.196m in 2021, compared with £991,000 in 2020.In 2020, her pay was 23 times that of a Channel 4 employee in the 25th percentile, the lower end of the broadcaster’s pay structure. This gap rose to 30.3 times in 2021.

Her estimated remuneration for last year would beat the previous record paid to a Channel 4 chief executive, held by Andy Duncan who received £1.21m in 2007 in a pay packet that was boosted by a special bonus payout linked to his move from the BBC.

The most Mahon’s predecessor David Abraham received in any of his seven years in charge, from 2010-17, was just under £1m.

During her almost six-year tenure, Mahon has navigated Channel 4 through the pandemic and headed off the latest attempt by the government to privatise the state-owned broadcaster.

In 2021, Channel 4 made a record £1.2bn in revenues, the first time it has surpassed £1bn, up 18% on pre-pandemic levels.

Channel 4’s board rewarded Mahon by upping the maximum annual bonus payout from 50% to 80% of base salary in 2021 –