Time Warner’s Bewkes gets raise of up to $3.25 million

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The recession isn’t thinning Jeff Bewkes’ wallet.

The chairman and chief executive of Time Warner Inc. was awarded a $250,000 raise in his base salary and increases in his annual bonus and long-term incentive compensation of $1.5 million each, the media conglomerate disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday.

Bewkes’ base salary for 2010 will be $2 million. His discretionary cash bonus and long-term incentive compensation, both of which are awarded only if the company meets certain performance targets, will be $10 million each.

The pay hike was approved by the compensation committee of Time Warner’s board of directors, the filing said, because of the company’s performance under Bewkes and the development of a ‘new corporate strategy.’ It cited the spin-offs last year of Time Warner Cable and AOL, which got the conglomerate out of the distribution business and focused exclusively on content production.

Bewkes was eligible for the uptick in his salary last year based on his being named chairman as well as CEO, the filing said. However, he declined it based on the economic downturn. The timing would have also been awkward, as Warner Bros. last January laid off 800 people, 10% of its global workforce.

-- Ben Fritz