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Law360 (April 22, 2020, 10:30 PM EDT) -- Fox Corp.'s top attorney Viet Dinh is among the leadership team at the company who will forgo their salaries in the coming months to help reduce overhead costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's CEO Lachlan Murdoch reportedly announced Wednesday in an internal company memo.
Dinh, Chairman Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch will take no salary through Sept. 30, and about 700 executives will take pay cuts, according to memo, which was printed in full by Variety. Chief Operating Officer John Nallen and Chief Financial Officer Steve Tomsic will also forgo their salaries, and the company also intends to forgo compensation raises, including for its board of directors.
"While we don't know exactly when we will return to normal and full operations across the company, we have decided to take several new actions to ensure that we remain strong and are well-positioned when this crisis recedes," Murdoch said in the memo. "To that end, the most senior members of our company will be reducing their salaries so that, to the greatest extent possible, we are able to protect our full-time colleagues with salary and benefit continuation during the period we are most affected by the crisis."
Dinh joined Fox in 2018 as its chief legal and policy officer to oversee all legal, compliance and regulatory matters, as well as oversight of government and public affairs. He made just under $2.4 million in base executive compensation in the fiscal year that ended in June 2019, according to company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Dinh was assistant attorney general during the early years of the President George W. Bush administration, where he helped craft the Patriot Act, and founded Bancroft PLLC in 2003 after leaving the White House. The firm focused on U.S. Supreme Court and high-stakes litigation, and was acquired by Kirkland & Ellis LLP in 2016.
Other top attorneys at entertainment companies have also adjusted their salaries during COVID-19, including Walt Disney Co. general counsel Alan Braverman, who took a 30% salary reduction starting in early April. He was among several top executives to slash their salaries, including Executive Chairman Robert Iger.
Murdoch said in the memo that the salary moves were being taken for several reasons, including because "we want to do all we can to continue providing your salary and benefits throughout this crisis. Your commitment to this company and its culture, many of you for decades, makes me enormously proud."
--Additional reporting by Emma Cueto. Editing by Haylee Pearl.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
