AstraZeneca is paying its boss a record £19m a year. Is he worth it?

Is any employee worth paying £18.7m? That’s the monster sum AstraZeneca has awarded its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, who’s in line for a £1.5m salary with the rest in mostly share-based bonuses.

Soriot is undoubtedly one of Britain’s top bosses. Over the past five years, AstraZeneca’s shares have increased by 82 per cent, turning £1,000 into £1,820 excluding dividend payments. By contrast, the FTSE 100 has improved by just under 7 per cent. Tracking the performance of the blue-chip stock index would have made you just £1,070 before dividends and charges.

The results are somewhat less impressive over the last year, during which AstraZeneca’s share price has declined by 6.5 per cent while the FTSE 100 has improved by 2 per cent. But it is the long term that really matters, especially with a company like this one, which is sustained by its research and the investments made into that. Over the long term, Astra under Soriot has been a pretty good place to park your money.

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.