Rebekah Brooks Got $11.2 Million News Corp. Exit Package (Report)

1:41 AM PDT 10/16/2012 by Georg Szalai

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The former CEO of the U.K. newspaper unit of Rupert Murdoch's company, got cash, pension payments and a legal fee allowance as she departed amid the phone hacking scandal.

LONDON - Rebekah Brooks, the former CEO of News International, the U.K. newspaper unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., received a pay-off of more than £7 million ($11.2 million) following her resignation amid the phone hacking scandal last year, the Financial Times reported.

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•Rupert Murdoch

The departure package included cash and pension payments, an allowance for legal fees and the use of a chauffeur, the paper said, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

However, her exit deal also included so-called clawback clauses that allow the company to recover some of the payments under certain circumstances.

News International declined to comment on Brooks' compensation package.

The news came ahead of News Corp.'s annual shareholder meeting in LA on Tuesday, which is likely to shine a spotlight on corporate governance issues. One shareholder proposal at the meeting, for example, calls for a separation of Murdoch's chairman and CEO rolls.

Brooks, a Murdoch confidante, who started working at the company in 1989 and later became editor of the News of the World and then the Sun tabloids, is facing trial in the hacking scandal. A provisional trial date has been set for Sept. 2013.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai