British Executive, Andy Bird, is now a new chief executive of Pearson PLC. The company announced Birds as the new executive on 24 August 2020 and also stated he would take his responsibility from 19 October 2020. On the same day, John Fallon, who previously served as Pearson's executive, will step down from the board. He will remain as an adviser until the end of the year.
Andy Bird was responsible for the company's business outside the United States. He is currently a non-executive director at the London-based education company and also a chairman of Walt Disney Co.'s International Operations.
Throughout his tenure, Bird served at the forefront of Disney's digital change, as per Pearson PLC.
Andy Bird at Disney (©: The Wrap)
As per the Chair of Pearson, Sidney Taurel, Andy Bird was 'extremely well placed to continue the transformation of Pearson' due to his 'experience and skills.' The company further added:
"He was at the root of Disney’s development of its direct-to-consumer strategy, marketing the company’s content as a service directly to the end-user, which has become a key growth driver for the company."
Pearson PLC has been through the momentum as the company struggled to balance the shrinking market for textbooks with revenue from its digital products and services.
Likewise, the company got dragged into the UK's exams fiasco recently after being compelled to recalculate BTec results. With that, it withdrew vocational qualifications for nearly half a million young people.
How Much Is Andy Bird's Net Worth?
Andy Bird's net worth details are unknown, but concerning his salary range, there is no doubt that he is a millionaire. As per his recruit as the Pearson PLC's new Chief Executive, he will garner the fixed salary of $1.25 million until 2023. Similarly, he is entitled to the annual cash allowance of 16% of base salary in lieu of pension.
Likewise, Bird will have his participation in Pearson's Annual Incentive Plan from 1 January 2021, where he will have a chance to attain the annual opportunity of 200% of base salary and a target bonus equal to 50%.
His Pearson Long Term Incentive Plan suggests that he will have a yearly face value of 300% of base salary from 2021.
By 31 December 2020, Bird will purchase the Pearson shares for $3.75 million for which he will be granted a co-investment award of 1,208,861 Pearson shares.