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Media General CEO's Pay Exceeds $2 Million In 2007

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By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM

The Associated Press

Published: March 20, 2008

RICHMOND, Va. - The chief executive officer of struggling newspaper publisher and television station operator Media General received executive compensation valued at more than $2 million during 2007, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Marshall N. Morton, who is also president of the company, received a base salary of $925,000, almost an 18 percent increase from the year before, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A large portion of Morton's compensation came from the value of stock and option awards. The awards, granted Jan. 31, 2007, had a total value that day of $844,719, according to the filing.

He received no bonus, unlike in 2006, when he received $475,592.

Profits for the company - which owns The Tampa Tribune; WFLA, Channel 8; and TBO.com - plummeted more than 85 percent to $10.7 million, or 47 cents a share, in 2007, from $79 million, or $3.35 per share, in 2006, as revenue slumped on slower political advertising and a shift among advertisers to the Internet.

Morton also received $276,377 in all other compensation, which includes personal use of a company car, certain club memberships, home-security services and values of tickets and refreshments related to company-leased stadium boxes. That was down from $319,503 the prior year.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives' salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation, and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In July 2005, Morton, 62, assumed CEO responsibilities from J. Stewart Bryan III. Morton served as chief financial officer from 1989 until July 2005, as senior vice president from 1989 to 2001 and vice chairman from 2001 to July 2005.

Bryan, 69, who serves as chairman, received a salary of $585,000 last year, down from $730,000 in 2006, the filing showed. He also received no bonus, after receiving one of $324,332 the previous year.

In addition to the Tribune, Media General publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

It also owns 22 daily community newspapers in the Southeast, more than 150 weekly newspapers and other publications, and 23 network-affiliated television stations.

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