AN online gambling boss took a £170million pay cut last year — but still earned £300million.
Bet365’s Denise Coates, one of Britain’s richest women, got a £250million salary in the 12 months to March 28, 2021.
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The 54-year-old site founder also received a share of more than 50 per cent of the company’s £97.5million dividend.
Yet that represented a £170million reduction on the year before because the company’s revenues stalled during the pandemic.
Bet365’s accounts, published yesterday, showed revenues were broadly flat, inching up to £2.818billion for the first year of Covid lockdowns compared with £2.811billion in the previous year.
Bosses blamed the significant disruption to schedules.
The company said: “At the start of the period, we experienced the almost complete cessation of sporting events.”
But operating profits for 2020/2021 jumped by 47 per cent year-on-year to £285.5million, driven by reduced pay packets for its directors.
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Even so, Ms Coates’ pay and dividends now total about £1.3billion for the past five years, making her among the world’s best paid executives.
She earned more than 16 times the amount received in 2020 by AstraZeneca’s Pascal Soriot, the FTSE 100’s best-paid chief exec who was rewarded for his role in developing the Covid vaccine.
The top exec globally last year was Elon Musk, founder of Tesla who received a total of £5billion.
