Is £8m not enough, Emma? GSK boss has £300,000 part-time job with Microsoft
SHE makes £8.2 million from her day job as the boss of GlaxoSmithKline and masterminded a £31 billion deal that flopped – but that hasn’t stopped Dame Emma Walmsley taking on a lucrative ‘side hustle’. Walmsley hauled in close to £300,000 from a part-time role on Microsoft’s board of directors last year. She is a member of the software giant’s pay and regulatory committees.
The GSK boss – who is the highestpaid woman in the FTSE100 – took up the role in 2019.
This means she was spending time on her job at Microsoft throughout the pandemic, even as GSK stumbled in its efforts to create a Covid vaccine.
She has been under attack from feared activist investor Elliott, which has repeatedly questioned whether she is the best person to lead GSK.
She masterminded the split earlier this year of GSK’s drugs arm from its consumer health business, now separately listed on the FTSE100 as Haleon. The spin-off has proved disappointing.
Walmsley turned down a £50billion offer for Haleon from Unilever last year. However, since being spun off, Haleon shares have fallen by a fifth and its market value is now under £25billion.
Other FTSE 100 bosses juggle their main jobs with second or even third roles. Peter Jackson, the boss of gambling titan Flutter, joined the board of Deliveroo in the spring.
The takeaway giant – which lists Jackson’s favourite Deliveroo dish as a Thai chicken curry – made a disastrous stock market debut in April 2021.
Jackson has taken the role despite netting £8.4million last year from Flutter, which owns the Paddy Power and Betfair brands.
RELX chief executive Erik Engstrom, who has made £100 million over his time at the FTSE 100 giant, also made an additional £69,500 from his role on the board of medical device maker Smith & Nephew.
He is also on the board of Stockholm-based media and publishing group Bonnier.
Experian chief executive Brian Cassin made £69,000 from his role on the Sainsbury’s board last year.
National Grid boss John Pettigrew added to his £6.5 million pay packet with a £70,000 top-up as the senior independent director at pest control titan Rentokil.
Shell head Ben van Beurden pocketed £160,000 from his role on the board of the luxury German car company Mercedes-Benz.