The head of leading Australian media group Nine Entertainment, David Gyngell, was the country's best paid boss in 2014, raking in Aus$19.6 million (US$16.3 million), a survey showed Wednesday.
Gyngell, who made international headlines when he dramatically tussled with casino mogul James Packer at Sydney's Bondi Beach in May, had a base salary of Aus$2.7 million, the Australian Financial Review said in its annual executive survey.
But he pocketed millions more in short-term and long-term incentives throughout the year, including Aus$2.5 million for taking the company to a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Coming in a distant second was Kevin Chin, the chief of little-known investment group Arowana International, who had a base pay of Aus$30,000 but took home an additional cash bonus of Aus$13.3 million -- also for an IPO on the New Zealand stock exchange.
News Corporation's Robert Thomson rounded up the top three with a package of Aus$13.2 million.
While banking and mining firms are significant movers of the benchmark Standard and Poor/ASX 200 index, the highest-renumerated boss among the two sectors was Nicholas Moore of investment house Macquarie Group.
He was paid Aus$13.1 million while Westpac Bank's Gail Kelly, one of Australia's most powerful female chief executives before stepping down last month, was ranked seventh with Aus$11.0 million.
Flying the flag for the mining sector was Rio Tinto boss Sam Walsh, who came ninth for making Aus$9.8 million, ahead of Andrew MacKenzie, who as chief of the world's largest resources firm BHP Billiton was paid Aus$7.6 million.
Their renumeration pales in comparison to some global executives, including Cheniere Energy's Charif Souki, who received US$142 million to become the highest-paid CEO in the United States last year, according to a New York Times and Equilar Atlas survey.