FT CEO agrees to return his pay raise

Financial Times chief executive John Ridding has agreed to return his six-figure pay raise after staff complained about his pay package last year made a “mockery of any concept of fairness.”

Freddy Mayhew of The Press Gazette writes, “In his email to staff (published in full below), Ridding said he would reinvest the pay increase money back into the company.

“He said the ‘first call’ on it would be a women’s development fund ‘to augment and accelerate our efforts to support the advancement of women into more senior roles at the FT and reduce the gender pay gap.’

“The move is in line with demands from staff, who called for it to be used to help bridge the FT’s gender pay gap, which is at 18.4 per cent (median) favouring men.

“Ridding said his pay, structured by owners Nikkei, was performance related and that 2017 was a ‘particularly strong year’ for the FT ‘in which we significantly beat our targets.’

“He said subscriptions had increased by more than 65,000 to reach a record high of more than 910,000, towards a goal of one million paying readers worldwide, and that ‘profits doubled.'”

Read more here.