£8m pay at Vodafone

OUTGOING Vodafone boss Vit- torio Colao was handed a £1.7m pay rise in his last full year before leaving the company.

After the Italian steered the firm through a decade-long overhaul, his departure – planned for September – was announced last month.

Yesterday Vodafone revealed Colao’s pay rose 26pc to nearly £8m in the year to March 31. It included a £1.2m salary, £1.5m bonus, £5m in performance pay and £276,000 for his pension.

Between 2008 and 2017 Colao, 56, was handed £60.2m – although during this time Vodafone shares have risen 44pc.

His major decisions included moving the firm’s HQ from Berkshire to London, agreeing the sale of its £84bn stake in US rival Verizon and last month’s £16bn deal to buy Liberty Global’s cable network in Europe.

However, he also presided over embarrassing episodes that saw Vodafone top Ofcom’s table of customer complaints and botch a computer systems update.