Clear Channel CEO Eligible for a 20% Bonus If He's Fired

(MoneyWatch)  Clear Channel Outdoor International (CCO) CEO William Eccleshare has a sweet deal. He signed on as the billboard company's chief in August and his contract makes it difficult for the company to fire him from his ?£402,685 a year job.

If CCO wants to fire him, they have to give him a year's notice. And if they don't want him to work for that year -- and why would you, if you want him gone? -- the company has to pay him a 20 percent bonus. (That bonus is couched as a payment in lieu of lost benefits.) Eccleshare even gets paid if he's under investigation for wrongdoing. The former BBDO Europe man also gets an ?£18,000 annual car allowance.

CCO isn't doing so well right now. Its Q3 2009 revenues were $660.6 million, down 19 percent and it made a loss of $34.4 million.

Eccleshare isn't the only new exec at CCO who has a cushy gig. In October, Herb Hill signed on as "director of special accounting and information systems operations," for a salary of $200,000 plus a bonus of $7,143 per month bonus through March 2010. (So really that's a salary of $250,000.) He also gets a $250,000 bonus if the company files a 10-K form with the SEC, its annual report. Given that CCO is required by law to file such a form, the chances of CCO not filing it -- and Hill not getting his salary-doubling bonus -- are nil.

Getting paid for doing not very much is a bit of a trend in the ad business. Omnicom (OMC)'s top executives get multimillion dollar bonuses even if they are fired, and WPP (WPPGY) chief Martin Sorrell is eligible for a $95 million payout even if his stock goes down (as long as everyone else's goes down even more).

• Related:
• Omnicom Bosses Get Jackpot Payouts Even if They Are Fired
• At WPP, Sorrell's $95 Mil. Pay Package Gathers More Foes -- But Passes Anyway