AFP, London :
The chief executive of the Financial Times, John Ridding, is to return some of his pay from last year following staff criticism, the business daily reported on Thursday.
In a note to employees, he said he would return a 2017 pay increase which took his total package to more than œ2.5 million (2.8 million euros, $3.2 million) – a 25 percent jump on the previous year, the FT said.
Ridding’s pay increase was œ510,000, and after tax, the amount returned to the company will be about œ280,000.
He said “the first call on these resources” would be a fund to “support the advancement of women into more senior roles at the FT and reduce the gender pay gap”.
The National Union of Journalists welcomed the move but said it “does not go far enough”.
It had complained that Ridding’s pay appeared to represent more than half of the FT’s œ4 million operating profits from 2017.
