Thomas Cook has confirmed a controversial £5.6m share payout to former chief executive Harriet Green, of which one-third will be donated to charity.
The share award is at the lowest end of the range that the holiday firm could have offered – handing Green 4.1m shares out of a possible 7m.
The former boss, who stepped down in November 2014, agreed to donate a third of the payout to charity after an outcry over Thomas Cook’s actions following the deaths of two children on holiday in Corfu in 2006.
The firm had been accused of attempting during her tenure to delay the inquest into the deaths of six-year-old Bobby Shepherd and his sister Christi, seven.
The siblings, from Horbury, near Wakefield in Yorkshire, died from carbon monoxide poisoning from fumes emitted by a faulty boiler in their Greek island hotel room. An inquest in May returned a verdict of unlawful killing and found Thomas Cook had breached its duty of care.
Thomas Cook said the parents were satisfied with the decision of Green to donate some of her payout to charities that aim to raise awareness and improve protection from carbon monoxide.
It said Green’s share award was based on an assessment of business performance against several targets including the share price. Thomas Cook’s stock market value rose more than eightfold during Green’s time at the helm.
The travel agency said: “Thomas Cook also notes and is positive about Ms Green’s commitment to donate a third of her share award to charities chosen after consultations with the parents of Christi and Bobby Shepherd. This would include a substantial donation to a carbon monoxide charity to support the work of the recently launched joint initiative with Thomas Cook to fund research into protection from carbon monoxide, limit the risks associated with it and raise general awareness of the related dangers. The parents of Christi and Bobby Shepherd expressed their satisfaction with this outcome.”
Green told the BBC the payout was “in recognition of the work we did together as a team to save the company and put it on a firm foundation for the future, saving the jobs of over 25,000 people, adding £2bn of shareholder value to the business and raising standards for customers.
“I am particularly pleased to be able to honour my commitment to give a third of my bonus to charitable causes and am grateful for the support of the parents of Christi and Bobby Shepherd in agreeing these causes.”
Despite Green’s turnaround of the ailing firm, she left under a cloud after allegedly alienating key staff, and her payout had been heavily criticised by the Shepherd children’s mother.
Thomas Cook faced a consumer backlash on social media after the inquest and its apparent failure to apologise properly to the parents for its role in the tragedy.
The current chief executive, Peter Fankhauser, initially claimed there was “no need to apologise” as the coroner had cleared the firm of wrongdoing. It also emerged that Thomas Cook had received £3m in compensation from the hotel owner.
Fankhauser later announced the company had donated all the money it had retained after legal fees to Unicef, and met the children’s parents to apologise personally.