BT skips bonuses, except CEO's and ex-chief's

BT CEO Ian Livingston, who is axing 15,000 jobs after a disastrous profit plunge last year, will receive a bonus equal to about $550,000 for meeting environmental goals, improving customer service and delivering on other aspects of his contract terms.

Livingston, who has been with BT for about a year, reportedly is converting his bonus into BT stock shares.

François Barrault, the former head of the loss-making global services unit, took home £3.5 million ($5.6 million)

in cash and shares before being fired last year. UK union leaders described the payment as “outrageous”.

No one else in senior management is getting bonuses and most pay raises are being skipped this year, according to multiple published reports.

Meanwhile, former BT CEO Ben Verwaayen, who now leads Alcatel-Lucent, received a termination payment and bonus payment collectively worth more than three times the bonus paid to Livingston.

These reports come just days after BT said it would shed 15,000 jobs.

The company also said it would focus on repairing its Global Services unit in-house rather than trying to spin off the group.

For more: - The Times Online has this story