Presenter received £4.8m dividend and £8.4m share buyout from BBC Worldwide, plus his presenter's salary of nearly £1m

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Jeremy Clarkson took home more than £14m for his Top Gear work last year, including his presenter's salary and payments relating to the hit show's global commercial success.

Clarkson received a £4.86m dividend payment from the company he set up as a joint venture with the BBC to exploit Top Gear's global commercial potential, in addition to his presenter's salary, understood to be just under £1m.

He received an additional £8.4m for his 30% stake in Bedder 6, after the BBC struck a deal in September to take full control of the company, bringing Clarkson's total earnings for the year to the end of March to more than £14m. Only his presenting fee is paid for out of the licence fee.

BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, went into partnership with Clarkson and Top Gear executive producer Andy Wilman – who had a 20% stake in Bedder 6 – in 2008, channelling revenues from the global explotation of the brand through the company. Clarkson has earned £10.24m in dividends from the arrangement over five years.

On Tuesday as BBC Wordwide published its annual report for the 12 months to the end of March, it revealed that Wilman received £5.6m for his Bedder 6 stake, in addition to Clarkson's £8.4m.

Bedder 6 also paid an £8.1m dividend for the year to the end of March, split 60/40 between the duo, meaning Clarkson received another £4.86m, which will be revealed when the final Companies House financial documents are made public later this year.

"No licence fee income was used by BBC Worldwide to pay the exiting shareholders of Bedder 6 in 2012," said a spokesman for BBC Worldwide. "In just five years the business grew its profits five-fold (and its revenue to £149m), which would not have been possible without the involvement of the show's creative talent. The deal also secured the future of the Top Gear brand for the BBC and BBC Worldwide and we now benefit from 100% of its profit stream."

BBC Worldwide, which said that it received a dividend from Bedder 6 of £7.5m in the year to the end of March, lodged total costs of £16.2m on its balance sheet relating to the takeover of the 50% of Bedder 6 it did not already own.

The commercial arm of the BBC reported a 55% surge in pre-tax profits to £160.9m, thanks in part to £35.7m from the sale of assets including Lonely Planet. Total revenues increased by 3% to £1.16bn in the year to the end of March.

BBC Worldwide said that its operation had delivered £156m to the corporation's licence fee paying arm.

The BBC said that stripping out the impact of asset sales, which includes £8m from selling down its 24.9% stake in Strike Back maker Left Bank to 12.2% in a deal with Sony Pictures, its profits still rose 21% year on year.

BBC Worldwide sold Lonely Planet in March for £51.5m, after controversially paying £130m for the travel guides business. At the time of the sale the BBC Trust criticised Worldwide for incurring a "significant financial loss".

The corporation had already written down the value of Lonely Planet by £67m over the last six years to £63m, and said on Tuesday that it made just £15m from the sale.

"Despite this accounting gain, we have made a net cash loss on our investment of approximately £80m," the company said in its annual report. "Although this has not proved to be a good commercial investment, at the time of purchase there was a credible rationale for this deal."

BBC Worldwide said that the sale of Lonely Planet marked the "end of an era" of expansion, with a focus now on building the BBC brand and exploiting the corporation's content.

Best-selling programmes of the year were David Attenborough's Africa, sold in 195 territories, Top Gear USA (174 territories), Ripper Street and Parade's End (more than 120 territories).

However, BBC Worldwide's global brands division – which manages key shows including Top Gear, Doctor Who and Dancing with the Stars – saw losses widen by 52% from £17.3m to £26.2m. Revenues fell from £146.6m to £141m.

Growth was driven by the programme sales and international channels divisions.

Sales of shows such as Doctor Who and Top Gear grew with revenues rising 7% year on year to £312.3m and profits growing almost 10% to £79.3m.

The division that runs BBC Worldwide's 34 branded international channels saw revenues grow by 7% to £369m and profits rise by 13% to £47.8m.

TV ad sales rose by 2.9% and BBC America was up 27.8%.

The content and production operation, which develops, commissions and acquires shows from producers, grew revenues by 11.5% to £151.2m and profits by 15% to £12.1m.

The consumer products division, which sells DVDs and was hit by HMV going into administration, saw revenues slump by 14%to £181.6m and profits dive by 21% to £38.8m.

Employee numbers fell from 2,602 to 2,333 with staff costs, including wages and pensions, falling from £190.6m to £179m.

Directors' remuneration grew from £1.49m to £2.33m, largely due to a £450,00 payout for loss of office as well as bonus payments to long-serving chief executive John Smith, who left in late 2012.

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