BCE, the parent company behind Bell, paid its top executives more than $5 million in bonuses last year — even though the company lost money, laid off thousands of workers, and saw its stock price drop by 30%.
Mirko Bibic, the CEO of Bell, got nearly $2.4 million in bonus money alone. In total, he earned $12.8 million in 2024, slightly less than what he made the year before. His pay was down around 5%, mostly because the value of his stock awards dropped, according to the company’s proxy circular.
BCE had a tough year. The company’s revenue and profits went down, and it announced plans to cut 4,800 jobs—its biggest round of layoffs in almost 30 years. It also took a $2.1 billion loss on its media division and warned that future earnings might be lower. On top of that, BCE is still carrying over $40 billion in debt and paying out dividends that cost more than it makes in cash flow.
Investors were especially unhappy about BCE’s recent $5-billion deal to buy a U.S. company called Ziply Fiber. The deal made the company pause its annual dividend increase—something it had done for 16 years straight. BCE also said it would sell its $4.7 billion stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to Rogers to help pay off debt. Both deals have yet to officially close.
Still, the company handed out large bonuses based on performance goals. While executives didn’t get anything for revenue growth, which declined, they did get payouts for hitting targets in free cash flow and other internal goals. For example, one of the things listed as an achievement for Bibic was saving $200 million by cutting jobs.
A Bell spokesperson told the Globe and Mail that Bibic’s base pay hasn’t increased and won’t go up in 2025 either. They also pointed out that a lot of his pay is tied to BCE’s stock price, which has been falling, down about 30% in the past six months and 27% over the past year and down 43% over the past five years; it’s currently trading at $32.63 per share. Bibic’s stock award from 2022 lost more than half its value, and newer ones are also trending downward.
Overall, the story here is pretty simple: even in a tough year for Bell—with job cuts, lower profits, and unhappy shareholders—top execs still walked away with millions.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I was with bell for 15 years. To put it in perspective, I was with them since the iPhone 3GS. I got it literally 2 weeks after coming back from Miami when it was the colds saints Super Bowl. I had unlimited data with them for 30$ back when nobody was handing out unlimited data. I called in cuz of the new plans iPhone in Canada posted a week or so ago. They offered me nothing. Keep in mind I have never signed a contract. Always BYOD and they offered me 3$ in savings lol.
That was the loyalty departments best offer and I was on an EPP plan too. She said with a serious voice “do you want to proceed?” I said I’m going to think about it and immediately called Telus and ported out. Went back to Telus who I once worked for and was my first phone carrier back when it was clearnet.
Clearnet Communications was my first phone carrier too! Back around 1999 to 2000 until I got a company phone.