Knapp pockets $561,000 bonus from bankrupt NTL

Barclay Knapp, the chief executive of the troubled cable company NTL, was awarded a $561,138 (£382,768) bonus for his work in 2001 as the company lurched towards bankruptcy.

The award was more than double the $249,813 bonus Mr Knapp received in 2000 and sits on top of the $277,260 salary he earned last year.

The bonus is likely to upset shareholders who are set to end up practically empty-handed after NTL has carried out a massive debt-for-equity swap.

It is also likely to put pressure on Mr Knapp and other board directors to leave NTL once the company's restructuring has been finalised.

The biggest bonus in the year, $591,250, was awarded to John Gregg, the company's finance director, who received a salary of $240,220 in 2001.

The awards were revealed in documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as part of NTL's overall bankruptcy filing. Those documents also revealed the company's chairman, George Blumenthal, won exactly the same bonus as Mr Knapp and was also paid $277,260.

NTL, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month, will end up controlled by its bondholders after about $10.6bn of debt has been converted into equity.

The process, which is expected to take another three months, will see NTL emerge with $5.8bn of debt, nearly $12bn less than previous levels.

Stephen Carter, the head of NTL's UK operations was paid a $278,112 bonus last year alongside his basic salary of $431,790, up from $60,636 in 2000.

Even though NTL has filed for Chapter 11, its day-to-day operations remain unaffected.