But her £260m pay package still makes her one of the highest paid CEOs in the world
Just one day after High Pay Day – the 3rd working day of the year when FTSE 100 CEOs have already worked enough to get paid what a typical UK worker is paid in a year – the pay package of Britain’s highest paid CEO was announced.
Denise Coates, the CEO of gambling company Bet 365 was paid more than £260 million in the last financial year. That’s a figure over 75 times greater than a typical FTSE 100 CEO and nearly 8,000 times greater than the median UK worker.
This is also despite her pay dropping in the last year by around £35 million. It is also far lower than the £471 million she was paid in 2020.
High Pay Centre’s response was covered by a range of national media outlets including BBC News, the Guardian and the I. Our view is that it is extremely inefficient for such a huge amount of income to accrue to one individual when so many people in Britain are currently going through such hardship.
A payment this size is obviously vastly more than necessary to encourage or reward success. Even the best business leaders depend on things beyond their control like an educated workforce, affluent customers and a stable economy. There really is no moral or economic justification for such extreme payouts and the inequality and division that they create.