LONDON – Britain blue-chip companies last year slashed chief executive pay as the Covid-19 pandemic struck, but the AstraZeneca head still pocketed a chart-topping £15.45 million (RM90.08 million), a survey showed today.
With many businesses plunging into sharp losses as the world faces lockdowns, CEOs of the biggest listed companies in London saw a median annual pay drop of 17%, said the High Pay Centre think tank.
But, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot managed to earn the equivalent of US$21.25 million (RM90.05 million), or 50%, more than his nearest challenger – Brian Cassin, who is the head of credit-rating group Experian.
The High Pay Centre campaigns for a narrowing of the huge gap between CEO and ordinary worker wages in Britain.
“Very high CEO pay reflects a wider gap between rich and poor in the United Kingdom (UK) than in most other European countries,” said director Luke Hildyard.
“The inequalities exposed by the pandemic and volume of public money used to protect large businesses can strengthen the argument for measures to contain top salary and rebalance extreme income differences.”
The survey showed that median chief executive pay is 86 times the median earnings for a full-time worker in the UK.
High Pay Centre said average CEO pay at nine blue-chip companies that claimed support via the national furlough jobs support scheme is £2.39 million.
The UK government has spent billions of pounds paying the bulk of wages for private-sector staff during the pandemic in a scheme due to end next month.
The highest paid female chief executive last year was Emma Walmsley, who earned £7.0 million as boss of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.
Only six of 100 companies on the blue-chip index have a female head. – AFP, August 19, 2021
