Sky CEO Takes Home $50 Million in Comcast Deal Windfall

(Bloomberg) -- Sky Plc Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Darroch will take home as much as 38.2 million pounds ($50 million) after steering the British pay-TV company into the arms of Comcast Corp.

The 56-year-old sold his 775,772 shares in Sky worth 13.4 million pounds to the U.S. cable giant as it prepares to complete the $39 billion takeover, according to a filing Friday. Darroch will also cash in on previously awarded bonus shares.

Sky’s value soared during a protracted bidding war involving Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, Walt Disney Co. and Comcast that was settled by an auction last month.

Darroch, the grandson of a miner, was already one of the best paid CEOs in Britain, earning 39 million pounds in the last three years. He helped build Sky into a pan-European broadcaster with 23 million customers, luring customers with live Premier League soccer and hit dramas.

He joined as Chief Financial Officer in 2004 and has led the company since 2007. Following September’s auction, Darroch had overseen a near trebling in the Sky share price.

(Updates to include earnings from other share awards from first paragraph.)

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