Gavin O'Reilly, the chief executive of Independent News & Media, took a 10% pay cut last year to €877,000 (£760,000) – as the company slashed payouts to directors by 23%.

INM, which is due to complete the sale of the Independent newspaper titles to Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev next month, slashed its total payments to directors by almost 23% year on year from €7.9m to €6.1m.

O'Reilly's remuneration was made up of €614,000 basic pay, a €240,000 pension payment and €23,000 in fees. He did not take a bonus.

His father Anthony, who stepped down as chief executive in May last year as part of a deal with dissident shareholder Denis O'Brien to restructure INM, walked away with a total payoff of €2.9m. Of this €2.4m was a termination payment and the remainder made of fees, salary and a pension payment.

Earlier this month telecoms billionaire O'Brien overtook the O'Reilly family to become the largest shareholder in INM by boosting his stake from 13.8% to 18.6%. It is the first time that the O'Reillys have not been the largest INM shareholder.

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