Executive pay has now left the planet and not just at banks:
Sorrell, who turned a shell company called Wire & amp; Plastic Products into an empire that also includes media buyers Mediacom, market researchers Kantar, and public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, took home £50m of shares in 2005 after a long-term share scheme – known as a leadership equity acquisition plan, or Leap – paid out.
The 30% pay deal that has been struck takes his basic salary to £1.3m and comes with the potential to earn up to 500% of that in bonuses – an extra £6.5m. Until now he could receive up to £3m in bonuses – some 300% of his £1m salary – and the company said the "adjustment" followed the "share owner consultation process"
No doubt he deserves it, by the standards that hold across large corporations, in relation to his company's perfromance. Meanwhile those whose fortunes are made by sailing rather closer to the wind can take comfort that:
The episode marks an embarrassing end for Alderman, whose time in charge [of the Serious Fraud Office] has been dominated by budget cuts of more than 30% and a ruthless purge of almost all of the SFO's most senior and experienced prosecutors.
Recent cuts in staff at the Inland Revenue must be quite reassuring as well.
Companies are keen to explain that they have a duty to their shareholders to take the most energetic steps to minimise their tax payments find themselves a little more conflicted when it somes to reconciling executive 'compensation' with shareholder interests:
As with Barclays, 11th-hour tweaks in pay [at Aviva], plus pledges to listen harder to shareholders, probably will not quell the anger when it comes to the vote. The basic problem is similar: shareholders have suffered a massive drop in dividend income since 2008, plus a substantial decline in the share price, yet boardroom pay practices continue as if nothing has changed.
Except that it has a little.
Whilst at WPP:
In the annual report Rosen said: "Following our 2011 AGM we recognised that a number of our share owners had issues with some aspects of the group's executive compensation arrangements."
