AstraZeneca Awards New CEO £4M 'Golden Hello' Alongside £1.1m Salary

He's Earning HOW Much?

Biopharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has revealed its new chief executive Pascal Soriot will receive a base salary of £1.1 million a year after jumping ship from rival Roche.

Soriot was awarded the impressive pay packet along with £4m as compensation for the loss of his long-term incentives from his previous employer.

He will also be entitled to £1.1m as an annual bonus, plus long term incentive awards worth 250% of base salary, worth £2.75m.

Soriot won't receive the full £4m for eight years, and getting the full payout will depend on whether the company hits performance metrics - he is likely to receive £2m within three years however, according to the Wall Street Journal.

AstraZeneca is the world's fifth-largest pharmaceutical company, behind Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, and has operations in more than 100 countries.

Soriot's predecessor, David Brennan, left in a hurry earlier this year following shareholder anger after he was paid over £9m in 2011 at a time when the company's net profit was down 44%.

Brennan was one of a number of FTSE CEOs who lost their jobs earlier this year in what was called the "shareholder spring"; an uprising by investors against what they perceived to be excessive pay and perks for company bosses at a time of poor revenue and profit performances.

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