NEWS CORPORATION EXECUTIVE OFFICER PERFORMANCE-BASED LONG-TERM INCENTIVE PROGRAM SUMMARY OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE STOCK UNIT

EX-10.1 2 dex101.htm SUMMARY OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS Summary of Terms and Conditions

Exhibit 10.1

NEWS CORPORATION

EXECUTIVE OFFICER PERFORMANCE-BASED LONG-TERM INCENTIVE PROGRAM

SUMMARY OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PERFORMANCE STOCK UNIT

 

Eligible Persons   Persons who may be designated from time to time by the Compensation Committee (the “Compensation Committee”) of the Board of Directors of News Corporation    
Award   An award of News Corporation Performance Stock Units (“PSUs”), with each representing the right to receive the U.S. dollar value of one share of News Corporation’s Class A common stock, par value $0.01 per share (“Class A Common Stock”) in cash. The PSUs will be granted under the News Corporation 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”).      
Performance Period   3-Year Performance Period   
Performance Metrics
(Target Performance,
Maximum Performance
and Limitation
 

Performance Metric

   Target
Performance
    Maximum
Performance
 
  Earnings Per Share (“EPS”) Growth – Average Adjusted EPS growth per fiscal year measured by the sum of the year over year annual growth in each of the three fiscal years of the performance period, divided by 3 versus a pre-established target    40   80
Adjustment)  

 

Free Cash Flow (“FCF”) Growth – Average Adjusted Free Cash Flow growth per fiscal year measured by the sum of the year over year annual growth in each of the three fiscal years of the performance, divided by 3 versus a pre-established target

   40   80
 

 

Total Shareholder Return (“TSR”) – News Corporation’s 3-year TSR compared with the 3-year TSR of the companies comprising the S&P 500 Index (excluding Financial and Energy sector companies) at the end of the Performance Period

   20   40
              
 

Subtotal

   100   200 %** 
              
 

 

**     However, in no event may a payout exceed 150% of the PSU Target Number (defined below) the Eligible Person has the opportunity to earn.

 

The EPS and FCF performance metrics are determined as the percentage growth from News Corporation’s prior year end consolidated results. The TSR performance metric is determined by a measurement at the end of the Performance Period.

         

    


   Limitation Adjustment – A “limitation adjustment” may be required in some cases to cap the maximum payout at 150% of the PSU Target Number (defined below).
Target Determinations    Within 90 days of the beginning of each Performance Period, the Compensation Committee will establish, for each of the performance metrics, performance ranges and payout ranges for the Performance Period. At such time, unless already set forth in an applicable employment agreement, the Compensation Committee will determine the target opportunity for each Eligible Person expressed as a dollar value (the “PSU Target Value”). The PSU Target Value will be converted into a target number of PSUs based on the 20 trading day average closing price of the Class A Common Stock ending on the June 30 of the prior year (the “PSU Target Number”). Such performance metrics’ performance ranges, payout ranges, and PSU Target Value will be conveyed in writing to each applicable Eligible Person within 90 days of the beginning of each Performance Period.
Performance Determination   

•        As soon as practicable following the end of the Performance Period, the Compensation Committee will compute the average of the annual EPS and FCF performance metrics for each of the three applicable fiscal years and determine the final performance metric for each of the three performance metrics, which, because of the Limitation Adjustment described above, cannot exceed 150% of the PSU Target Number (the “Final Performance Metric”). The Compensation Committee will then certify the achievement of the results for the Performance Period.

 

•        All performance metrics may be adjusted at the sole discretion of the Compensation Committee as it deems appropriate (i) to exclude the effect of extraordinary, unusual and/or non-recurring items, discontinued operations and accounting charges and (ii) to reflect such other facts as the Compensation Committee deems appropriate so as to reflect the performance metric and not distort the calculation of the performance metric.

Payment    Subject to the Condition to Payment of PSUs described below, at the end of the Performance Period, each Eligible Person will be credited with the number of PSUs determined by multiplying the PSU Target Number by the Final Performance Metric (the “Final PSU Credits”). Each Eligible Person will then receive a payment equal to the Final PSU Credits multiplied by the closing price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock on the last trading day immediately prior to the Payment Date, subject to the limitations set forth in the LTIP. The “Payment Date” shall be August 15 or the business day closest to August 15. Thus, the Final PSU Credits reflect, for each Eligible Person, both Company performance and any change in the value of the Company’s Class A Common Stock over the three-year Performance Period.
Condition to Payment of PSUs    The Payment of PSUs to each Eligible Person is subject to the attainment of one or more pre-established objective performance measures that shall be determined by the Compensation Committee within the 90 day period after the beginning of the fiscal year (the “PSU Performance Condition”). If the PSU Performance Condition is met, the actual number of PSUs to be awarded shall be determined by multiplying the PSU Target Number by the Final Performance Metric as described herein subject to the maximum limitation contained in the 2005 Long-Term Incentive Plan.


Impact of Termination During a Performance Period   

Unless set forth in an applicable employment agreement or otherwise provided by the Compensation Committee, in its sole discretion, the following provisions shall apply to the PSUs:

 

Upon any type of termination on or prior to the last day of the first fiscal year of the applicable Performance Period, the entire Award will be forfeited.

 

Upon termination that occurs within the second or third fiscal years of the applicable Performance Period, the following terms and conditions shall apply:

 

In the event of termination by the Company for Cause (as may be defined in an applicable employment agreement) or termination by an Eligible Person without Good Reason (as may be defined in an applicable employment agreement), the entire Award will be forfeited.

 

In the event of termination by the Company without Cause (as may be defined in an applicable employment agreement), including by a non-renewal of the Eligible Person’s employment agreement, termination by the Eligible Person with Good Reason (as may be defined in an applicable employment agreement) or upon retirement, an Eligible Person shall be entitled to receive a pro-rata portion of any Award that would have been paid had no termination occurred based on the number of days the Eligible Person was employed by the Company during the Performance Period.

 

In the event of death or Disability (as defined below), an Eligible Person shall be entitled to receive the full value of any Award at the end of the Performance Period as if no termination had occurred and such Award shall be payable when such Award would have been paid had no termination occurred.

 

“Disability” shall mean an Eligible Person is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment that can be expected to result in death or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.

 

“Retirement” shall mean the resignation or termination of employment by the Eligible Person after attainment of age 60 with ten years of service with the Company or any of its affiliates so long as the Eligible Person is not then employed by another company.

Definitions    “Adjusted Net Income” shall be determined by adjusting Net Income by eliminating the effect on Net Income of the following items, which will apply equally to income and losses from “Associated Entities” (as that term is used in News Corporation’s audited consolidated financial statement (the “Financial Statements”) included in Net


  

Income (the “Adjustments”) - (i) non-cash intangible asset impairment charges and writedowns on investments to realizable values; (ii) gains or losses on the sale or other disposition of businesses or investments; (iii) items classified as Extraordinary Items (or a similar classification); (iv) the impact of changes in accounting in the fiscal year of such change (with the intent being to measure Adjusted Net Income in each Fiscal Year on the same bases of accounting); (v) costs of material business restructurings, reorganizations and relocations (includes severances, shut down, asset writeoffs – whether immediately recognized or the incremental impact of accelerated charges over the restructuring period); and (vi) gains and losses from capital and debt issuances and retirements. The determination may reflect such other adjustments as the Compensation Committee deems appropriate to reflect the performance metric so as to not distort the calculation of the performance metric.

 

“Earnings Per Share” is calculated by dividing Adjusted Net Income by the number of shares of stock (or stock equivalents) of the combined classes of News Corporation’s common stock utilized in the Financial Statements for the respective fiscal year in determining diluted earnings per share, after adjusting for new share issuances and the effect of corporate reorganizations such as stock splits.

 

“Free Cash Flow” is defined as operating income before depreciation and amortization, less cash interest, operating taxes paid, working capital requirements and capital expenditures, plus distributions/dividends received and non-cash compensation expense, all determined from continuing operations. Comparable adjustments made to Net Income in accordance with the definition of Adjusted Net Income will be made to Free Cash Flow to the extent they impact Free Cash Flow.

 

“Net Income” for each fiscal year shall be determined in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles and will be such amount reported as Net Income in the Financial Statements.

 

“Total Shareholder Return” is calculated as the change in value of the Company’s weighted average of the share price of the Company’s Class A Common Stock and Class B common stock, par value $0.01 per share, as quoted on The NASDAQ Stock Market over the Performance Period .

 

Weighted Average TSR = (Weighted Class A TSR plus Weighted Class TSR) divided by 2

 

Weighted Class A TSR = (((share price of the Class A Common Stock at the end of the 3-year Performance Period minus the share price of the Class A Common Stock at the beginning of the three-year Performance Period) plus dividends reinvested) divided by the share price of the Class A Common Stock at the beginning of the three-year Performance Period) multiplied by the shares outstanding of the Class A Common Stock.


  

Weighted Class B TSR = (((share price of the Class B Common Stock at the end of the 3-year Performance Period minus the share price of the Class B Common Stock at the beginning of the three-year Performance Period) plus dividends reinvested) divided by the share price of the Class B Common Stock at the beginning of the three-year Performance Period) multiplied by the shares outstanding of the Class B Common Stock.

 

Share price is determined using the 20 trading day average closing price up to the last trading day on or prior to June 30. Shares outstanding is determined on the last trading day on or prior to June 30 at the end of the Performance Period.