Party Poker Execs Dealt A Winning Hand
Published: Thursday, April 20, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
PARTY POKER EXECS DEALT A WINNING HAND
Big paypackets in the Gibraltar boardroom
Business Telegraph has been doing some digging into the pay deals of online poker executives working for industry leader Party Gaming, it appears. In an article published this week the publication says that making a career out of poker can pay...and goes on to show why.
Quoting rewards paid to the PartyGaming board last year, BT says that the Gibraltar gambling group's 10 directors shared a $36 million (GBP 20 million) salaries jackpot.
Most royally flush was Richard Segal (42) who this week stepped down as chief executive after earning $20.2 million last year, of which only $705 920 was basic pay. Finance director Martin Weigold (40) was also dealt a winning hand, with total pay of $8.59 million.
Chairman Michael Jackson (56) came up trumps with $3.28 million, while Brian Larcombe, the non-executive director who heads the remuneration committee, pocketed $2.02 million.
The pay bonanza - revealed in the gaming group's first annual report since its GBP 4.64 billion float last June - is one of the largest for a FTSE-100 board.
Much of it is explained by nil-cost option packages and signing-on fees granted to directors at the 116 pence-a-share float. These were paid for by the group's four existing owners, not the new shareholders who bought stock at the float.
Segal, who quit in February after deciding he did not want to relocate to the group's Gibraltar headquarters, can continue to exercise some of his remaining options after his departure. At the current share price of 150p, he could make more than GBP 30 million for less than two years' work.
His replacement, Mitch Garber (41) who took the hot seat this week, has been enticed with a $1 million salary, a $6 million signing-on package and free options currently worth more than GBP 10 million.
Mr Garber, former boss of online payment group FireOne, also has nil-cost options over 20 million more shares, exercisable in tranches up to 2016, depending on PartyGaming's performance.
Remuneration at PartyGaming dwarfed that of smaller rival 888 Holdings, where total board pay was $3.18 million. To give a sense of perspective, average daily revenue (excluding skins) for Partypoker alone was posted in its recent accounts at $2 869 414, up from $2 261 492 in 2005.
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