When Sir Pascal Soriot took over as chief executive in 2012, AstraZeneca was in poor health, with patents nearing expiration and a lack of blockbuster replacements in the pipeline. In 12 years on his watch, AZ’s share price has increased by 268 per cent, compared with an average gain across the FTSE 100 of 36 per cent. It has successfully launched a series of next-generation oncology medicines, partnered with Oxford University in bringing out a Covid-19 vaccine in record time and built an R&D campus in Cambridge employing 2,300 scientists. No one doubts that Sir Pascal is the chief architect of this stupendous success story.
One of Sir Pascal’s first tasks as AZ boss was to fight off a takeover bid by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. He succeeded, and AZ is now a bigger concern than its rival. Yet last year he earned about £5 million less than his opposite number at Pfizer. Even after the company succeeded in raising his pay this week, despite a shareholder revolt, his pay is at the lower quartile of its peer group globally, including in the United States.
Vastly well remunerated by almost anyone’s standards, in the rarefied market for global business hotshots, this French-Australian businessman remains relatively underpaid.
Those seeking to limit elite salaries in the UK for presentational purposes are misguided. Such labour is intensely mobile. So, indeed, are whole companies. In recent years, the primary listings of the building material group CRH and the plumbing and heating equipment supplier Ferguson have migrated from London to New York. Shell considered moving in 2021. BHP, the mining group, has decamped to Sydney. Next month, Flutter Entertainment, formerly Paddy Power Betfair, will vote on switching from London to New York. If the City is to remain a blue-chip financial centre, its top talent must be fully incentivised to stay put.
