Qantas chief Geoff Dixon's payout under fire

[Greg McDonald]

From NEWS.COM.AU:

Qantas boss Geoff Dixon is under fire over his $11.92 million pay packet, which a leading firm of corporate governance advisers has branded excessive.
On the day of his retirement at the company's annual meeting, Mr Dixon is shown in a report by Melbourne-based RiskMetrics Group to receive more than his opposite numbers at 11 of the world's biggest airlines.

The 69-year-old, who will remain an adviser until March, has led Qantas (qan.ASX:Quote,News) through turbulent times - the shock of 9/11, the collapse of Ansett, SARS and bird flu - but also a period of prosperity and growth.

In the RiskMetrics report, Mr Dixon's cash and incentive payments are compared with the average $6.06 million earned by CEOs of similar-sized companies.

Apart from his base salary of $2.31 million this year, Mr Dixon received $3.01 million in cash incentives, stock with a total value of $6.39 million, plus $218,412 worth of other benefits.

Included in the stock arrangement was a one-off reward granted in shares worth $4.46 million for not resigning after the private equity bid for Qantas collapsed.

"Mr Dixon appears to receive remuneration which is excessive compared to CEOs of companies of similar market capitalisation," RiskMetrics said.

The RiskMetrics report urged Qantas shareholders to reject the remuneration report at the airline's annual meeting in Brisbane today.

According to RiskMetrics, Mr Dixon was paid more than the heads of four major US carriers and the chief executives of British Airways, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines last financial year.

Not one airline chief listed - shown in a table of salaries converted to Australian dollars - got within $1 million of what Mr Dixon was paid.

The nearest, who was paid $10.3 million after his US earnings were converted to Australian dollars, was United Airlines chief executive Glenn Tilton.

Cash payments made to Mr Dixon in 2007-08 were also 328 per cent higher than Willie Walsh, his counterpart at British Airways.

RiskMetrics questioned the one-off retention of shares worth $4.46 million Mr Dixon got and that other key executives received to stay with Qantas after the private equity takeover bid failed.

The report showed former chief finance officer Peter Gregg was granted shares worth $2.23 million, executive general manager John Borghetti was to get $2.10 million worth of stock, and incoming chief executive Alan Joyce $2.04 million.

Mr Dixon and Mr Gregg announced their resignations in July and August, just eight months after the shares were granted.

RiskMetrics said it was not clear whether Mr Dixon or Mr Gregg would forfeit any or all of the retention incentives.

[Montague S]

not bad for a guy who originally backed the dodgy takeover only to change his tune about it 2 weeks ago.