Nine Entertainment CEO David Gyngell is the highest paid CEO in all the land.
According to the Australian Financial Review's annual salary survey, the Nine boss came out on top this year with a tidy $19.6 million pay packet, boosted by short-term incentives for getting Nine to a sharemarket float.
Gyngell was behind a deal to have major shareholders Oaktree Capital and Apollo Global Management convert debt into equity, and subsequently led the company to float in December last year.
According to the paper, Gyngell's 2014 pay-packet included a $2.5 million bonus for getting Nine to listing, another $2.7 million cash bonus, and $11.6 million in long-term incentives.
This means his base salary was a measley $2.8 million in comparison.
Should Gyngell stick around for 2015 and 2016, he will be eligible to pick up the rest of the float-related incentive package worth a total of $32 million.
Gyngell's extraordinary 2014 pay packet was $6 million ahead of the next best CEO, Arowona International's Kevin Chin.
Meanwhile, News Corp's Robert Thompson came out third on the list, taking home $13.2 million this year, with more than half of that made up of long-term incentives.
For more news:
TV airtime won't be traded via RTB
MCN ousts Nine as Qantas provider
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