Paul Dacre saw his pay fall by almost 40% to £1.5m in 2015 as the editor of the Daily Mail moved onto a new long-term incentive scheme.
The editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Mail Online took home £1.48m in 2015, well down on the £2.4m he earned last year.
This was due to Dacre giving up his usual annual salary supplement of at least £500,000 to start participating in an annual long-term incentive plan (LTIP) designed to make his remuneration “more directly linked to the overall success of the business”.
“Full year 2015 was the first year that Paul Dacre participated in the DMGT LTIP,” said Vicsount Rothermere, chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust, in the company’s annual report. “His awards will vest after three years with the performance conditions focused on the delivery of strategic objectives for the Mail titles such as growth and investment in strong brands of digital consumer media, particularly Mail Online.”
Dacre was paid a salary of £1.42m, and received a 2% rise on 1 October, the start of DMGT’s new financial year, and his LTIP scheme is worth up to 70% of his salary depending on hitting performance targets.
Dacre had £56,000 in taxable benefits – including a company car with a taxable value of £29,196, car allowance of £10,000, fuel benefit of £14,300, and medical benefits of about £3,000.
The 67-year-old has edited the Daily Mail since 1992 and was made editor-in-chief of DMGT’s national newspaper operation in 1998, following the death of his predecessor, Sir David English.
The report does not shed any light on the status of Dacre’s contract, only stating in terms of executive directors that “no changes to service contracts have been made or planned” for 2016.
Viscount Rothermere, DMGT chairman, revealed in a Tatler interview in October 2013 that Dacre – who had been on a rolling one-year contract due to expire on his 65th birthday in November that year – had agreed to a stay on with a new pay deal.
Rothermere, the company’s proprietor, received a total package worth £2.07m for 2015, down on the £2.4m the previous year, including a £905,000 bonus.
Martin Morgan, the DMGT chief executive, took home £1.94m, down from £2.02m in 2014, including a £570,000 annual bonus.
