Six Footsie chiefs split £32million salary: bumper bonuses for bosses of Unilever, Segro, Shell, Aviva, Rolls Royce and Flutter
Six FTSE 100 bosses took home a total of £31.8million in wages last year, despite the UK being in the throes of a cost of living crisis.
Amid a slew of annual reports, blue chip companies including Unilever, Segro, Shell, Aviva, Rolls-Royce and Flutter released documents revealing what their chief executives were paid.
The wage windfall from some of Britain’s biggest bosses will raise eyebrows as families across the country struggle to make ends meet as food and energy bills soar.
In the money: Ben van Beurden (pictured) received a fixed salary of £2.2m during the year as well as bonuses of £2.6m and £4.9m sterling of share awards
Shell paid former boss Ben van Beurden £9.7million in his final year in charge after the oil and gas giant made record profits on soaring oil prices energy.
The 64-year-old stepped down at the end of 2022 and received a fixed salary of £2.2million during the year as well as a bonus of £2.6million and 4.9 million of equity awards linked to the company’s long-term incentive plan.
It means that in his nine years in charge, van Beurden has raked in more than £86million and is set to receive a further £700,000 this year to stay at Shell as an adviser for six months.
Hellmann mayonnaise and Dove soap maker Unilever paid outgoing chef Alan Jope £4.8m, a 10% jump on the previous year despite criticism for the company’s poor performance . Last year’s windfall takes his salary since taking over in January 2019 to £16.5m.
Jope will be replaced in July and is expected to leave the company with broadly flat shares since taking over.
Former Rolls-Royce boss Warren East, who quit in December after seven-and-a-half years in charge, picked up £3.8million before stepping down.
His final payout took his earnings since becoming chief executive of the aero-engine maker to more than £20m.
Elsewhere, warehouse giant Segro paid its chief executive David Sleath £3.9m, down from last year when he fetched £4.7m.
Insurer Aviva paid boss Amanda Blanc £5.5million, a jump from the £3million she received a year earlier.
And gaming giant Flutter, owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, has cut boss Peter Jackson’s salary nearly in half. Despite the drop, he still received £4.1m last year.
Luke Hildyard of the High Pay Center said companies should have “thought twice” about doling out the huge salaries during the cost of living crisis.
He said: “Multi-millionaire CEOs making such big gains in the midst of a cost of living crisis, partly caused by a war that killed hundreds of thousands, is such a clear sign of an economy which needs major changes.”
