Executive Pay 'Up 10 Per Cent Despite Crash'
THE INDEPENDENT: The pay of executives at the helm of Britain's top companies rose 10 per cent last year despite their organisations suffering huge losses on the stock market, it emerged today.
The full and part-time directors of the FTSE 100 companies took home more than £1bn between them last year, according to The Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay.

The directors' salary increases were more than three times the 3.1 per cent average pay rise for ordinary workers in the private sector and more than double the rate of inflation last year.

Their bumper pay hikes came at a time when many of their companies were imposing pay freezes and redundancies on staff in a bid to cut costs.

The survey also revealed that the 10 most highly paid executives together earned £170m last year - up from £140m in 2007.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "The Guardian's analysis shows the breathtaking cynicism involved in a lot of executive pay deals, which are unrelated to either personal or corporate performance and involve people who are very well off helping themselves to larger salaries when private sector wages in many companies are being cut."

The increases in executives' basic pay helped compensate for falls in bonuses related to the performance of their companies.
Overall pay for directors of FTSE companies, including bonuses, fell by an average of 5 per cent, with the average chief executive of a bluechip company now earning a basic salary of £791,000.

But taking into account bonus payments, share awards and the value of perks ranging from cars and drivers to school fees and dental work, the average pay package rises dramatically, the newspaper said.

Nearly a quarter of FTSE chief executives received total 2008 pay packages worth more than £5m, and 22 directors now have basic salaries of more than £1m. >>> Rosamond Hutt, Press Association | Monday, September 14, 2009

Executive Pay Keeps Rising, Guardian Survey Finds
THE GUARDIAN: Full and part-time directors of FTSE 100 shared between them more than £1bn

Bart Becht, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, was rewarded with £36.8m in pay, bonuses, perks and share incentive schemes. Photo: The Guardian
Executives at Britain's top companies saw their basic salaries leap 10% last year, despite the onset of the worst global recession in decades, in which their companies lost almost a third of their value amid a record decline in the FTSE.

The Guardian's annual survey of boardroom pay reveals that the full- and part-time directors of the FTSE 100, the premier league of British business, shared between them more than £1bn.

Bonus payouts were lower, but the basic salary hikes were more than three times the 3.1% average pay rise for ordinary workers in the private sector. The big rise in directors' basic pay – more than double the rate of inflation last year – came as many of their companies were imposing pay freezes on staff and starting huge redundancy programmes to slash costs.

The Guardian data also shows that a coterie of elite bosses at the helm of multinational corporations are seeing their overall pay packets soar ever higher. The 10 most highly paid executives earned a combined £170m last year – up from £140m in 2007. Five years ago, the top 10 banked some £70m.

The Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, Vince Cable, said: "The Guardian's analysis shows the breathtaking cynicism involved in a lot of executive pay deals, which are unrelated to either personal or corporate performance and involve people who are very well off helping themselves to larger salaries when private sector wages in many companies are being cut." >>> Julia Finch and Simon Bowers | Monday, September 14, 2009

Microsoft Axes 5,000 Jobs as Recession Hits Software Giant
THE TELEGRAPH: Microsoft plans to axe 5,000 jobs as a result of weakness in the global personal computer market and forecast that profits will fall this year.

The software giant said it planned to make the job cuts - which amount to more than 5 per cent of the firm's global workforce - over the next 18 months.

Around 1,400 are expected to be informed of their departure on Thursday. It is understood around 60 of the cuts will be in the UK.

Microsoft blamed the “deterioration of global economic conditions” for cuts, which left shares in Microsoft down by 6.4pc in early trading in New York. >>> By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent | Thursday, January 22, 2009

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M&S to Close Stores and Cut Jobs
BBC: Marks and Spencer plans to close 25 of its small Simply Food stores and another two of its normal stores.

The closures will mean the loss of 780 jobs. The retailer is also planning to cut 450 head office jobs.

The announcement came with its Christmas trading statement. In the 13 weeks to 27 December, its UK like-for-like sales fell by 7.1%.

M&S warned that its margins would be lower this year as a result of discounting, especially in food.

In the run-up to Christmas, the retailer held two sale days where it cut prices by 20%.

M&S said that it had 15% less stock when it began its sale on 27 December than it had the previous year. >>> | Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Watch BBC video: Stuart Rose: "We're a strong business" >>>

BBC PDF: The list of stores to be closed >>>

THE TELEGRAPH:
M&S to Cut Jobs, Close Stores as Christmas Sales Fall: Marks & Spencer plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs, close more than 25 stores and scale back investment as shoppers abandoned one of Britain's biggest high street names over Christmas. >>> By Amy Wilson | Wednesday, January 7, 2008

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Citigroup Job Cull to Hit 75,000
BBC: US bank Citigroup has announced plans for about 52,000 new job cuts, on top of 23,000 cuts already made this year.

Citigroup said the 75,000 job cuts represented a reduction of about 20% of its staff, leaving it with 300,000 jobs worldwide "in the near term".

The cuts will come from redundancies, the sale of units and natural wastage, the bank said.

Citigroup has lost more than $20bn (£13.6bn) in the past year because of the global financial crisis.

It has posted four straight quarterly losses and some analysts believe the bank will not make a profit again until 2010. >>> | November 17, 2008

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The Party’s Over
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The businesses that make a living from the Square Mile's high rollers are dreading mass redundancies

As soon as he felt the heavy hand squeeze his shoulder last Tuesday morning, Jonathan, a banker at Royal Bank of Scotland in London, knew he [was] fired. Obediently, he went through the motions - greeted his boss cheerfully, listened the long talk about the decline of the leveraged finance market and the opportunities elsewhere - before shaking hands, returning to his desk and leaving.

He was one of 200 people who were let go by RBS last week as the bank slashed its European leveraged finance, real estate finance and commercial mortgage-backed securities businesses in London - but believes he was one of the lucky ones.

"At least I was expecting it," said Jonathan, who did not want to provide his full name. "We've had a great run, made a lot of money but frankly we've not been busy for a long time. The writing was on the wall. My wife gave up work after our second child was born last summer as the credit crunch started, so I had to plan. We were due to move to Kensington before Christmas but we're staying in Fulham instead and delayed sending our 4-year-old to private pre-prep school for a year. We've also kept the car rather than upgrading, cancelled skiing and didn't book the house in the South of France for the summer. Others I was working with carried on assuming things would pick up, they've got to make all the cuts now. That's more frightening."

Across London's stalling financial services sector, previously indomitable stars are facing up to the new reality of deep job cuts.

The investment banks have so far avoided the ignominy of being the first to announce redundancies yet all have quietly leaked hundreds of staff. In the next few weeks, a big round of cuts are expected. This weekend, new figures from the Centre of Economics and Business Research predict that nearly 30,000 jobs will be slashed over the next few months. Big banks including Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch are expecting to cut more next week. Some commentators are expecting far more, perhaps even the worst slump since the early 1990s.

City veterans drone that finance is a cyclical business. Others say it is time that the extraordinary extravagance and hubris of recent years was reined in.

The bumper bonuses paid to the 350,000 financial services workers has been felt across the capital, from a 20 per cent increase in London house prices to record- breaking parties such as the Ark, the hedge fund extravaganza that raised £28m over dinner, and modern art multiplying in value by 10 times.

While some may be scandalised by the decadence, the reality is that rain from the high-rolling financiers has watered the rest of the economy too. Hundreds of businesses have sprung up to service the super-rich. Quintessentially, the concierge service employs 1000 people in 45 offices around the world. The Buying Solution is a whole new arm of Knight Frank to deal with huge demand for country houses worth over £1.5m, Fantastic Fireworks for the parties, Famous Fishing for corporate entertainment, while XX, a specialist baggage handling business, booming. Then there are the holiday companies, car dealerships, clothes retailers, golf clubs, restaurants, bars, private schools and armies of domestic workers employed in London and country homes. UK Economy Faces Tough Times as Credit Crunch Hits Big Spenders in the City >>> By Louise Armitstead | April 13, 2008

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