Kick A Fat Cat Day

‘IF you wonder why so few cats feature in the roll-call of champions at the animal Olympics, it is because most of them are too busy gorging themselves at home.

BHP dug a big hole for Brian Gilbertson to stash his money

More specifically, you can find them on the front page of this morning’s Guardian, their whiskers drenched in cream and their stomachs bloated from overconsumption.

Yes, another day and another fat cat expose, this one from the paper’s special survey of boardroom pay in the FTSE-100 index of top companies.

The broad facts are these – last year, shares in the UK’s top 100 companies declined by 24%; average earnings rose by 3%; boardroom earnings rose by 23%.

The average pay of a FTSE-100 chief executive, including all the share options and other benefits, is an obscene £1.67m.

But for some that would just be beer money.

Take Brian Gilbertson, until recently the chief executive of BHP Billiton, whose basic salary of £798,842 was boosted to a total package of £9.1m.

He has since been kicked out of the company after a boardroom row, taking with him a golden handshake worth some £16m.

If we thought any of these people had any shame, we would name every single one of them.

But suffice it to say that boardroom pay has risen by a cumulative 84% over the past three years, in every one of which the FTSE-100 has fallen.

In response to which, Anorak proclaims tomorrow the inaugural Kick A Fat Cat Day.

Remember to take some heavy shoes to work…

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Posted: 31st, July 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink