Why don’t YOU take a pay cut?
12 FTSE bosses earning £145m are flying into Davos... to tackle world poverty. But critics say
FAT-CAT bosses were last night urged to show restraint after it emerged that a dozen chief executives jetting into Davos were paid in excess of £145m in just one year.
Business groups and campaigners joined forces to call for a more responsible approach to executive pay – warning that boardroom excess was contributing to the ‘breakdown in faith between corporate leaders and the public’.
the broadside came after analysis by the Daily mail found 12 of the FTSE 100 chief executives on the list to attend this week’s meeting of the global elite in Davos were paid a total of £145.2m in 2015 – an average of more than £12m each.
the highest paid, marketing guru Sir martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP, raked in £70.4m.
organisers claim the summit, which begins today high in the Swiss Alps, will focus on pressing issues such as tackling inequality, reforming capitalism and promoting ‘responsible leadership’.
But Stefan Stern, director of the high Pay Centre, criticised the ‘obvious paradox in some of the richest people in the world gathering in luxury to worry about the poor for a few days’.
he added: ‘If the chief executives at Davos are troubled by trump and Brexit then they should ask themselves why so many voters felt moved to deliver their rebuke to the established elites. It may have had something to do with huge gaps in pay.
‘this year’s theme of “responsive and responsible leadership” should put delegates on the spot. It would be responsive and responsible of them to exercise some restraint as far as their own pay is concerned – the sort of restraint many of them would urge on their employees.’
helena morrissey, former chief executive of Newton Investment management, joked there should be a session at the Davos junket on ‘self-awareness’.
Blackrock, the world’s largest investor, has said fat-cat bosses must curb sky-high pay and pensions or face a revolt from shareholders. the annual meeting of the World economic Forum in Davos, which runs until Friday, will see politicians, captains of industry and corporate fat cats rub shoulders with bankers, diplomats and celebrities, including hollywood stars matt Damon and Forest Whitaker, singer Shakira and even chef Jamie oliver.
WEF, which is based in geneva and saw revenues rise 11pc to £185m last year, claims to be ‘committed to improving the state of the world’. But its annual jamboree is famed for glitzy parties, lavish dinners and high-powered visitors.
Although many global leaders are avoiding this year’s gathering – theresa may will be the only leader from the g7 – high-flyers from the world of politics, business, finance and economics are due to attend.
the British delegation also includes Chancellor Philip hammond, Bank of england governor mark Carney, former prime minister gordon Brown and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.
Among the top- earning Footsie bosses expected to attend are Bob Dudley of BP who was paid £16.1m last year, Bill Winters of Standard Chartered who earned £10.5m, Paul Polman of unilever whose pay totalled £9.1m and Antonio hortaosorio, the boss of taxpayer-backed bank lloyds, who earned £8.8m.
oliver Parry, head of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors, said: ‘When the great and the good assemble at Davos this week, the subject at the top of their mind has to be the popular backlash against the established political and economic order we have seen escalating over the past year.’
WEF insists this year’s event will have ‘the most diverse participation ever’ – but women are expected to make up only 21pc of attendees.
Donald trump has not been invited to Davos – and he is not sending an official representative.
Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World economic Forum, said he did not ask the President-elect to attend the summit, adding that it was not realistic to expect trump to attend ahead of his inauguration in Washington DC on Friday.
Schwab, the 78-year-old german who set up WEF in 1971, said the organisation is planning a special meeting in Washington later this year to discuss the populist uprising that swept trump to power.
Former goldman Sachs president gary Cohn, a Davos regular, is skipping the meeting after being asked to head trump’s National economic Council. But hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci, an adviser to the President- elect, is planning to travel to Davos.