Top City bosses scooped pay packets worth £4.2m on average last year as FTSE 100 CEO wages soared to a record high.
Analysis shows that average chief executive pay at the biggest London-listed companies jumped 2.2 per cent in 2023.
And it is set to rise even further this year after top brass at major firms bagged huge raises.
AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot was the highest paid City boss in 2023 after taking home nearly £17m.
Executive salaries are back in the spotlight due to concerns that higher-paying US firms could poach top UK bosses.
In the spotlight: Companies have been slammed for handing CEOs bumper salaries and bonuses while workers struggled in the cost of living crisis
But companies have been slammed for handing CEOs bumper salaries and bonuses while workers struggled in the cost of living crisis.
According to research by think-tank the High Pay Centre, the median FTSE 100 CEO is now paid 120 times the amount of an average full-time worker in the UK. That is down compared to 124 times in 2022 but still higher than 108 times in 2021.
However, firms have defended the bumper packages, saying they are needed to attract and retain top talent.
Pharma boss Soriot earned £16.9m in 2023 – taking his total earnings to £135m during his 12-year tenure. The French businessman is in line for an even bigger pay day of £18.9m this year.
Remuneration has been a regular source of controversy for Soriot. After making £13m in 2018, he complained that he was ‘the lowest-paid CEO in the whole industry’ when bosses of rival biotech firms earned more.
Soriot is credited with reviving AstraZeneca’s fortunes since taking the reins in 2012 – with shares soaring more than 300 per cent.
Meanwhile, analytics company RELX paid chief executive Erik Engstrom £13.64m, up 59 per cent on the previous year. That took his total pay since taking the top job in 2009 to well over £100m.
Rolls-Royce boss Tufan Erginbilgic raked in £13.6m in 2023, making him the third highest paid FTSE 100 boss. He has been hailed for steering a turnaround of the British engineering giant, with Rolls’ share price rocketing around 300 per cent since he took over in January 2023.
BAE Systems boss Charles Woodburn was paid £13.45m, GSK CEO Emma Walmsley took home £12.72m and Pearson chief executive Andy Bird was handed £11.27m.
Luke Hildyard, a director at the High Pay Centre, said: ‘The increase in average CEO pay reflects a small number of companies making really large pay awards. Higher executive pay has been a key demand of business lobbyists in recent years.
‘This campaign has had some success, with shareholders at the biggest UK companies becoming more willing to wave through bigger payouts.’
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