What is the salary of the top managers of Il Sole 24 Ore?
The publishing group owned by Confindustria is in difficult economic and financial conditions. After eight consecutive financial statements in the red and the erosion of the entire share capital, as at 31 March 2017 the company declared a negative shareholders' equity of almost 26 million euros and a net financial debt of 45,2 million.
The shareholders' meeting has been convened for Wednesday 28 June which, in addition to approving the 2016 financial statements, is called to vote on the provisions of art. 2447 of the civil code. The board of directors proposes a financial maneuver which provides for a capital increase of 50 million, in addition to the sale of 49% of the "training and events" area. According to the documents published by the company and based on the binding offer presented by the Palamon Capital Partners fund, the latter operation expects the collection of a consideration of 39 million and a capital gain of 38,7 million, net of sale, estimated by the seller at 500 thousand euros.
Last year, three managing directors and four presidents took turns at the top of Il Sole 24 Ore.
Donatella Treu was in office as CEO for four months, until 29 April 2016. She was not confirmed by Confindustria after six years at the top, she had entered the Sole board of directors on 2010 February XNUMX, co-opted when the president was Giancarlo Cerutti and the president of Confindustria Emma Marcegaglia.
According to the report on remuneration approved by the board currently in office of Il Sole 24 Ore, in 2016 Treu received a gross salary of 168.333 euros as an executive, plus the compensation as director equal to 48.333 euros, for a total gross amount of 216.666 euros.
In the six-monthly report in June 2016, in the report for the first nine months and finally in the annual financial report for 2016 it is written that "following the departure of the managing director Donatella Treu, a charge of 1,5 million euro was recognized ”. Apparently a severance pay of 1,5 million was paid to Treu.
To the written question I addressed as a shareholder of Il Sole 24 Ore (based on the share plan assigned to journalists after the listing) before the shareholders' meeting of 22 December 2016, asking for clarifications on why a severance pay, why the former CEO Treu signed six financial statements all in the red, with over 200 million in net losses, the company gave this answer: "Mrs. Treu was only paid the fees due by virtue of her employment relationship with the company as the same also covered the role of manager of the company. Nothing was recognized for the position of managing director, having completed the three-year term of his mandate. The liquidation of Dr. Treu was subject to evaluation by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of Il Sole 24 Ore, which expressed a favorable and unanimous opinion".
Now, however, there is another question to ask. Why is Dr. Treu's severance pay of 1,5 million not reported in the remuneration report? The new directors in the meeting of June 28 could clarify this point.
With the end of Treu's mandate, the chairman Benito Benedini also left the scene, who _ according to company documents _ did not receive compensation.
The new board of directors of Sole 24 Ore, at the time chaired by Giorgio Squinzi (appointed himself in April, a month before concluding his mandate as president of Confindustria), also without remuneration, therefore appointed Gabriele Del Torchio, on 13 June 2016.
Del Torchio is the manager who led (and sold) important companies, the Ferretti shipyards, Ducati and then Alitalia, in which he was from April 2013 to December 2014. It was the "Ducatista" Del Torchio who sold the Alitalia of the brave Captains to the Arabs of Etihad, who took 49% of the capital. Del Torchio's salary at Alitalia has never been disclosed, unofficially there was talk of 600-700 thousand euros gross per year, because the paycheck would have been reduced by 20% compared to his predecessor Andrea Ragnetti (the manager who previously at Among other things, Philips launched a line of vibrators “for her and for him”). Del Torchio, it has been said, would also have renounced a bonus, but there are no official documents that clarify his salary, because Alitalia is not listed on the Stock Exchange and has no obligation to make the compensation of top management transparent.
At Il Sole 24 Ore, Del Torchio's salary was set at a fixed gross annual salary of 600.000 euros. But Del Torchio remained in office for only five months. At the end of September 2016, he presented a half-year bombshell to the board of directors, declaring losses of around 50 million euros.
Del Torchio clashed with the then editor-in-chief and editorial director of Sole 24 Ore, Roberto Napoletano. Since March 13 of this year, Napoletano has been placed on unpaid leave by the new Sole board of directors. Del Torchio challenged Napoletano for a secret document signed with Benedini which extended the severance payment to 36 months, compared to a fixed salary which in 2016 was 750 thousand gross euros a year.
The manager also allegedly presented a dossier on the director's so-called "crazy spending" (which rejects all the accusations), a matter on which the current board of directors asked PwC to verify, was heard by Consob and the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office, which opened an investigation into Il Sole 24 Ore for false accounting. There are at least ten suspects, including Napoletano, Treu and Squinzi for false accounting, seven other former managers and outsiders also investigated for embezzlement. So far no one has been indicted.
The president of Confindustria elected in May 2016, who succeeded Squinzi, Vincenzo Boccia, sided with Napoletano. And so Del Torchio, who had suffered an illness and a slight heart attack at the end of the board of directors in the half-yearly report in deep red, jumped. On 14 November 2016, the shareholders' meeting appointed a new board of directors of Sole 24 Ore, with Franco Moscetti as managing director (former CEO of Amplifon, where he achieved brilliant economic and commercial results) and Giorgio Fossa as president.
According to the remuneration report, for the five months in which he was at Il Sole 24 Ore, Del Torchio received a gross of 253.846 euros. But that's not the manager's only salary in 2016. Before arriving at Il Sole, in fact, Del Torchio was executive president of the Snaitech group (formerly Snai), which deals with sports betting. The main shareholders _ through the company Global Games which holds 67,18% _ are Andrea Bonomi's Investindustrial fund (to which Del Torchio is considered close) and the Veneto-based Palladio Finanziaria, shareholders with equal shares of Global Games.
For this position, from 2016 January 9 until 2016 June 339.583, when he resigned to move to the publishing group owned by Confindustria, Del Torchio received a gross salary of 775.000 euros. Added to this is the sum agreed with Snaitech to renounce the mandate in advance, equal to XNUMX euros which, in the remuneration report, is classified as a "transaction".
Del Torchio therefore received 9 euros gross from Snaitech for five months and 2016 days of work in 1.114.583, equivalent to 220 thousand euros per month. Furthermore, Del Torchio is on the board of directors of Ovs, from which he received a gross amount of 31 euros in the last year (year ended 2017 January 100.000). In total last year Del Torchio therefore earned 1,468 million gross from the three listed companies.
The manager of Varese origin (he was born in Caravate in 1951) is also on the board of directors of two unlisted companies, Sergio Rossi Srl and B&B Italia Spa. Since 2016 he has also been a director of the University of Padua, the city in which he resides.
With Il Sole 24 Ore, however, the game is not over. Del Torchio had a three-year contract and claimed a severance pay or payment of the missing two-and-a-half-year mandate when he was dismissed by the board. To the shareholders' questions asked at the Sole 24 Ore meeting on 22 December last, to find out whether a severance pay had been paid to Del Torchio, the company replied as follows: “No indemnity has been paid so far. The Board of Directors of November 30, 2016 mandated the current CEO to reach the best agreement which will be submitted to the Board of Directors for ratification”. Also on this point the meeting of 28 June could provide updates.
At the same meeting, some shareholders asked what Moscetti's compensation is. The answer was as follows: “The proposed remuneration, as per the minutes of the board of directors of 15 November 2016, is equal to 500.000 euros per year. Furthermore, a further extraordinary compensation is envisaged on an annual basis, up to a maximum amount of 20% of the fixed emolument and correlated to the achievement of the budget approved by the company's board of directors".
According to the Sole 24 Ore report on remuneration, in the 45 days in which he was in office last year (he has been CEO since 15 November) Moscwetti received a total gross of 64.103 euros.
The new president Giorgio Fossa has a fixed salary of 20.000 euros per year, the amount received in 2016 is 2.630 euros. Carlo Robiglio, who was president from the beginning of October to 14 November 2016 and has been vice president since then, has a fixed annual salary of 20.000 euros, the share received in 2016 being 13.479 euros.
The chairman of the board of statutory auditors, Luigi Biscozzi, who resigned from the meeting received a gross fee of 80.000 euros.
In addition, the report discloses the compensation of the five executives with strategic responsibilities, only as an aggregate and not with individual data. The document specifies that this category includes "the heads of two business areas (Publishing area and Digital business & Technology), as well as the group CFO, the director of personnel, operations, environment and security and the director of legal and corporate affairs) ”. In total they received 1.543.707 euros of fixed compensation (the salary, in essence), there are no bonuses or other you: on average, it would be 308.741 gross euros each, but there may be differences in the five positions. Among the five there are two managers who, after the appointment of the new board of directors, left Il Sole 24 Ore: the former CFO Valentina Montanari and the former personnel director Edoardo Zecca. However, the report does not indicate the payment of termination benefits in 2016 for any of the five.
There is one more note regarding Donatella Treu. Three weeks after the failure to confirm to Il Sole 24 Ore, on 20 May 2016 Treu was appointed director of a state-controlled company, Fincantieri. Candidate in the list of funds, coordinated by Assogestioni. At Fincantieri you Treu don't have management powers, but you are also involved as chairman of the Nomination Committee and member of the Remuneration Committee. In total, her compensation for the position in 2016 was 44.950 euros and 82 cents, before taxes. For Treu it is around 6.400 euros a month, which is added to the fees received at Il Sole 24 Ore.
Source: Weak powers, Gianni Dragoni's blog
