Rupert Murdoch's former head of media operations Rebekah Brooks has been arrested, leaving Rupert Murdoch fighting for what's left of his power and influence. And to make it worse for him, his company is going to be paying out a lot of money. Not just the compensation the company will be paying for those affected. It's also the payouts for its departing executives.
The Independent reports that Brooks will be getting a payout of £3.5m ($US4.6 million), regardless of what happens to her. The final editor of the News OF The World Colin Myler will be paid £2m ($US3.2 million) and the company's senior lawyers, Jon Chapman and Tom Crone, will each get about £1.5m ($US2.4 million). Add to that the pay out for Les Hinton, chief executive of Dow Jones, the US branch of Rupert Murdoch's empire which publishes the prized Wall Street Journal. So just for senior execs, we are looking at something in the order of at least $US15 million.
All this will infuriate the journalists who lost their jobs because of management's ineptitude. The Daily Mail notes that the settlements will include gagging orders to stop executives discussing company matters outside of any public inquiries or criminal proceedings. You wonder whether the gag applies if they're in jail. And what do the payouts say about Murdoch's apology?
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