Los Angeles Times publisher Tim Ryan to get $625,000 salary, $262,000 housing allowance
Tim Ryan, who was named publisher of the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune on Tuesday, will receive an annual base salary of $625,000, according to Tribune Publishing’s 8-K SEC filing. It adds:
He will also be entitled to receive an annual cash bonus with a target of 100% of base salary. The Company will pay Mr. Ryan $75,000 for relocation expenses, all or half of which will be subject to repayment if Mr. Ryan’s employment is terminated for cause or he resigns without good reason prior to the one- or two-year anniversary of the employment agreement, respectively.
Mr. Ryan will receive a housing allowance of $175,000 by September 30, 2015, and $87,000 on September 30, 2016. In addition, the Company will provide Mr. Ryan with temporary housing and a rental car for up to four months.
Mr. Ryan’s employment agreement also provides that for 2016, 2017 and 2018, subject to his continued employment, he will receive annual equity grants having an aggregate fair market value of $550,000 on the grant date, of which half of the value of the award will be stock options and half restricted stock units.
Footnoted‘s Michelle Leder, who tipped me off to the 8-K filing, tells Romenesko readers that Ryan’s base salary is $50,000 lower than former Times publisher Austin Beutner’s – he was fired on Tuesday – but the $337,000 in housing/moving perks for Ryan “seem a bit generous for a company that’s supposedly concerned about expenses.”
Ryan joins the Los Angeles Times from Tribune’s Baltimore Sun, where he’s been publisher since 2007.
Update – An emailer writes: “Did you notice that Tim Ryan gets an unusual two years of severance if the LA Times changes hands and he gets fired?”
* Tribune Publishing Company Form 8-K (sec.gov)
* Beutner abruptly fired as LAT publisher, Ryan steps in (latimes.com)
* Los Angeles civic leaders protest Beutner’s dismissal (laobserved.com)
Earlier on JimRomenesko.com:
* Tribune discloses $625,000 base salary for digital chief Denise Warren
