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Pay rise: BAE boss Charles Woodburn earns £13.5m in 2023, up from £12m last year
The boss of Britain’s biggest defense company earned his biggest payday last year, taking his total earnings to almost £50m since he took over as chief executive in 2017.
BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn received £13.5m in 2023, up from £12m the previous year.
That took his total earnings to £46m, putting him among Footsie’s highest-paid bosses.
AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot received £16.9m last year, while Relx data analytics’ Erik Engstrom took home £13.6m and GSK boss Dame Emma Walmsley got £ 12.7 million.
Big pay has been high on the City’s agenda, with David Schwimmer, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), saying UK companies should reward executives more to compete with American companies.
LSEG is asking shareholders to approve a new £11m pay deal for Schwimmer, double his £6.25m in 2023.
Since Woodburn was in charge, BAE Share have risen to 1,272p, from 631.5p in 2017.
It has capitalized on geopolitical tensions and this year donated its M777 howitzers to Ukraine.
NATO members are urged to honor their commitments, and Woodburn supports US calls for European nations to “increase defense spending to at least the 2 percent target.”
He said NATO leadership had made it clear that the goal was “a minimum and not a maximum.”