LEVY WANTS TO BE
AN EMI MILLIONAIRE

New EMI Recorded Music Worldwide Chairman/CEO Alain Levy didn't exactly take on his new job as a hobby, but his $1 million starting salary (600 pounds) is relatively low for the position. According to London's Financial Times, though, the base pay will be boosted by "one of the most aggressive incentive packages in the history of the music business."

By contrast, outgoing Chairman/CEO Ken Berry's base salary was a little under $3 million (2.04m pounds), though his entire remuneration package approached $5 million (3m pounds). Insiders say his compensation package could exceed $5 million, which includes two years' salary and two years' bonus payments under his current contract.

Former PolyGram Chief Exec Levy has been brought in, along with first lieutenant David Munns, with the promise of hefty financial rewards tied to share price and earnings performance. Levy almost quadrupled PolyGram's per-share price, and turned it into the #1 music group in the world before it was purchased by Seagram in 1998 and merged with Universal.

EMI has a history of giving its executives lucrative pay-outs. Last year, it paid chairman Sir Colin Southgate almost $1.2m and two years ago, gave American music chief Jim Fifield, Berry's predecessor, a $15m-plus pay-off, which prompted the British tabloids to give him the nickname, "Lucky."