Sly Bailey

Sly Bailey
Born	Sylvia Grice 24 January 1962 (1962-01-24)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Newspaper Group Chief Executive
Spouse	Peter Bailey

Sylvia "Sly" Bailey, neé Grice, born on 24 January 1962, is the chief executive of Trinity Mirror, UK's largest newspaper publisher, and a non-executive director of EMI. She is widely considered as one of the most powerful female business executives in Europe. She was named as one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Britain" by Management Today and as one of Britain’s most influential women by the Daily Mail. She was also named as one of the top 20 most influential figures in media by MediaGuardian and as one of the top 50 most powerful businesswomen outside the United States by Fortune. Currently she is on the Press Association board and president of NewstrAid, a charity for the distribution and retail trade.

Early life

Her father was a freelance financial journalist. She was educated at St Saviour's and St Olave's Grammar School for Girls, in Dulwich, south-east London. In 1978 she briefly attended the Italia Conti theatrical school.

Career

Bailey began her career as a make-up artist for Revlon. In 1984 she joined The Guardian newspaper working in advertising sales. Bailey became advertising manager at The Independent newspaper in 1987.

Before joining Trinity Mirror as chief executive in 2003, she was chief executive of AOL Time Warner's IPC Media group, the UK's leading consumer magazine publishing group. She was elected to the board of IPC at the age of 31, and she was subsequently named chief executive at the age of 37. In October 2001, at the age of 39, she successfully led the £1.15 billion sale of the IPC to Time Inc, the publishing division of AOL Time Warner.

Compensation

In 2005 her bonus was cut by more than £100,000, but in April 2006, Trinity Mirror awarded her a 12.9% increase on her £620,000 salary, just months after several hundred of its 11,000 staff had been made redundant due to slumps in advertising revenue.

Bailey received a 41.8% increase in her remuneration package in 2006. At the same time management continued to make redundancies and impose below inflation pay increases on its staff.^{[citation needed]}

Unsure what direction to take in managing its newspapers, in late 2006 the Trinity Mirror board brought in management consultants who recommended the sale of assets including the Racing Post, Midland Independent Newspapers and Trinity Mirror South. The disposals were forecast to achieve proceeds in excess of £600 million.

In the event, the Racing Post and the remainder of the company's sports division, and parts of TMS were the only sales achieved. Proceeds of the sales were £263 million. A management buy-out of MIN fell through, and an assorted rump of unsaleable titles from TMS remained with the company.

Group pre-tax profits in 2007 were £191 million, down from £192 million, on revenue of £1.009 billion, down from £1.073 billion. Circulation figures continued their decline.

Nevertheless, Bailey qualified to receive 100% of her bonus entitlement, which at £793,000 was equivalent to 110% of her salary. Her remuneration package included a further £240,000, 33% of her salary, as her annual pensions contribution.

On 30 June 2008, Trinity Mirror issued a trading statement forecasting a 10% reduction in anticipated profits, leading to a collapse in the share price to a low of 73.5p, compared to its 12-month high of 557.5p. Currently shares in Trinity Mirror stand marginally above 42p with a market cap of £106.55m.

Writing in The Independent, media columnist Stephen Glover pointed out that the company's market value had slumped from £1.5 bn to £250m, and commented: "... it is difficult to see how Sly Bailey, Trinity Mirror's preposterously well-rewarded chief executive, can remain much longer in her job . . . "

Regardless of the growing crisis, Bailey went ahead with her holiday plans, and according to City Spy in London's Evening Standard, flew to Sardinia by private jet from Farnborough Airport, at a reported cost of £20,000.

Phone hacking inquiry

In July 2011 Bailey launched an investigation into editorial controls and procedures at Mirror Group newspapers following allegations of phone hacking. Bailey is set to become the first serving media proprietor to appear at the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking in October 2011.

Personal life

She is married to businessman Peter Bailey and supports Tottenham Hotspur.

Awards

• Sly Bailey was awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of East London in 2005.