The entire list

What the ORF salary emperors earn down to the last cent

(Bild: Thomas Ramstorfer/First Look/picturedesk.com, Andreas Tischler/picturedesk.com (3), Krone KREATIV)

There is a lot of nervousness on Küniglberg ahead of the publication of the complete list of all 62 top earners at ORF. The public broadcaster has to announce this on Tuesday, and here you can find out all the salaries and fringe benefits of the employees who earn more than 170,000 euros gross per year, down to the cent!

It is no April Fool's joke that Ö3-Weckermann Robert Kratky - as already revealed last week - earns an annual salary of 443,894.39 euros, which is around 31,700 euros per month or almost twelve times that of an average earner. Incidentally, this is more than ORF Director General Roland Weißmann receives, and almost twice as much as his Radio Director Ingrid Thurnher.

In addition, Kratky earns 8500 euros a month for side jobs - but in this category it is not him, but a colleague of the "alarm clock of the nation" who is the emperor of salaries. You can find out who that is and who else is in the list of the absolute top earners at ORF here - the "Krone" lists the exact gross annual salaries and the total additional income for 2023.

Kratky also earns more than the CEO
The other names in the top ten are already familiar to "Krone" readers. As a reminder: ORF Security Officer Pius Strobl is in second place (annual salary of EUR 425,677.43 plus EUR 2,500 per month for secondary employment), with Director General Roland Weißmann in third place (at EUR 425,500.04, around ten percent less than his predecessor Alexander Wrabetz).

The complete list of the other top earners:

Regional director in Salzburg with an annual salary of more than 250,000
All nine directors of the regional studios are among the top earners overall, but only one of them has made it over the 250,000 euro mark: Waltraud Langer heads the ORF regional studio in Salzburg for 250,095.06 euros gross per year. 

Among TV journalists and "ZiB" stars, Armin Wolf with 252,780.08 euros (i.e. around 18,000 euros plus 3837.80 euros for side jobs per month), Peter Resetarits (210,043.12 euros annual salary) and Hans Bürger with 194,981.32 euros are among the top salaries, but not the "ZiB" presenters Tarek Leitner or Nadja Bernhard.

Foreign correspondents such as Ukraine war correspondent Christian Wehrschütz (197,489.84 euros annual salary, 5983.17 euros per month in additional income), Cornelia Vospernik (185,666.52 euros), Ernst Gelegs (173,740.44 euros annual salary - additional income: 25 euros) or Thomas Langpaul (183,266.34 euros) are also among the top 62, with head of department Alexander Hetfleisch at the lower end. His annual salary: 170,689.89 euros.

Obligated by law

The ORF was obliged by law to publish by the end of the first quarter at the latest who earns more than 170,000 euros gross per year at the public broadcaster. The transparency and annual report on the fulfillment of the public service mandate had to be sent to the Federal Chancellery by Sunday evening, and the list must then be published on a website "easily, directly and permanently accessible".

For all salaries below the specified limit, the ORF only has to state how many employees are in certain salary ranges. No names are mentioned here.

The ORF average income is 91,400 euros (average of 2943 full-time jobs, as of 2022).

The list of additional income
Surprisingly, the column of additional income - including moderations, presentations or advertising deals - is not headed by salary emperor Robert Kratky, but by his colleague Andi Knoll. In addition to an annual gross salary of 190,242.08 euros, he earns an average of 9600 euros per month (also gross).

As already mentioned in 2nd and 3rd place: Robert Kratky with 8,500 and Christian Wehrschütz with 5,983.17 euros average monthly gross earnings from secondary employment. They were followed by director Kurt Pongratz, who gave a provisional range of 4001 to 8000 euros, ahead of Pius Strobl with 2500 euros. The other side incomes listed range from around 660 euros downwards, with regional director Markus Klement at 1.74 euros. The majority of the top earners at ORF do not have a second job.

The managing directors
Informed ORF circles also leaked the salaries of the managing directors and heads of ORF subsidiaries to "Krone". Oliver Böhm, Managing Director of ORF-Enterprise GmbH & Co KG, earned a gross salary of EUR 345,154.98 in 2023, while Christian Kerschbaumsteiner, former Co-Managing Director of the former subsidiary GIS (now OBS), earned EUR 208,718. OBS parted ways with around 80 employees and Kerschbaumsteiger when the GIS fee was switched to the household levy.

Also listed: Heinz Mosser (ORF-Enterprise) with 204,227 as well as GIS and OBS boss Alexander Hirschbeck with 183,566 gross annual salary 2023.

It is to be feared that the publication of this report will lead to further polemics and even personal attacks on ORF employees, which I, as Director General, oppose. The ORF will also take legal action against any statements or even threats against individual employees that may damage their reputation.

ORF-Generaldirektor Roland Weißmann

Bild: GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / picturedesk.com

Expensive old contracts and lucrative side jobs
ORF argues that the high salaries are due to expensive but often fixed-term (old) contracts. In addition, this only concerns around 1.3 percent of the approximately 4,000 employees (including subsidiaries). Some managers would be responsible for hundreds of employees and budgets of up to hundreds of millions. And additional earnings are now limited by new ethics rules anyway.

CEO Weißmann made it clear regarding the transparency report that the publication of names was "viewed critically by many lawyers". First and foremost, it would "fuel the envy debate and fuel public polemics". He also fears personal attacks on employees of the company and has announced that he will take legal action against threats and statements that damage the company's reputation.

100 million euros for (luxury) pensions at ORF
In addition to the revealed salary emperors, the state broadcaster is also guarding a second big secret: the so-called pensions for former directors and their high level of security in the budget. Provisions for pensions continue to eat up more than 100 million euros a year. Other liabilities in the budget relate to severance payments and unused vacation. In total, these accumulated securities for the thousands of employees and many more pensioners account for every third euro of the billion-euro budget.

In addition to the "normal" company pensions, they also include luxury pensions. Although such privileges for ex-directors have been a thing of the past for almost 25 years, they still affect up to 14 former managers or the widows of deceased top managers. Former ORF General Alexander Wrabetz will now also be able to enjoy a generous pension when he retires next year at the age of 65. It is reported that he will receive 8,000 euros per month, four times as much as the average male pensioner.