Will Alan Joyce get his $16 million bonus? Qantas board lets the consultants decide
Former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce may be denied over $16 million in bonuses if a third-party consultant finds his mismanagement will void these payments.
Former Boston Consulting Group strategy chief Colin Carter has been brought in by the Qantas board to investigate whether Joyce met the performance measurements required to receive the bonuses.
These payments are split between $13.97 million in long-term bonuses stretching over his 15-year stint at the airlines, and short-term bonuses totalling $2.19 million — with The Australian reporting that Carter is currently interviewing Joyce, members of his executive team, and a number of board members.
Joyce also received a $21.4 million salary.
Joyce
Following the ACCC’s action against Qantas, who they alleged “engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights that it had already cancelled, the airline froze short-term bonuses for its senior executives.
“While customer satisfaction levels improved during the year, they are well below where they should be,” Qantas chair Richard Goyder said in a statement.
As a result, this part of the scorecard was judged at zero out of a possible 20%, and this had a corresponding impact on senior executive pay.
“As part of good governance, after applying the 20% reduction the board will withhold the balance of the FY23 short-term incentive for senior executives while this matter progresses.
“There are already clawback provisions on significant amounts of remuneration awarded but not yet released that would be used if significant misconduct was ultimately found.”
Joyce: | Source:
It was also revealed the board allowed Joyce to offload $14.8 million in Qantas shares, despite the looming ACCC investigation.
This sell-off happened three days after the airline had handed over information to the ACCC regarding the ghost flights saga – but before the market had been informed.
The claw-back happened days after Joyce fronted a Senate committee, answering questions about boosting airfares while raking in a record $2.5 billion FY23 profit. The airline also faced revelations it strongarmed the Federal Government into blocking Qatar Airways from introducing additional flights, that would have seen lower fares for Australian travellers.
In the midst of this controversy, Joyce stepped down from the CEO role, bringing forward his retirement by two months to “help the company accelerate its renewal.”
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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When all the the people he ripped off, fired unlawfully, gouged, scalped tickets on, sold non-existent flights, took tax payer money from etc are paid back – the parasite can get some spare change…
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How can qantas pay a ceo a bonus who has not delivered to share holders for years,no dividend no bonus.
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