Records are made to be broken. Bet365 founder, Denise Coates, has just done it by paying herself a whopping $422 million for this year. She is the UK’s fourth richest woman.
She now has the highest executive pay packet in UK corporate history. The record was held last year — by her – at $287 million. If you do the math, she gets $212,000 per hour).
We think she can live on the billion accumulated to date. She may not need them, but she also gets dividends from the online betting giant. Of note, she owns 50.1 percent in the privately-held company.
Fat cat salary
Many would kill for her pay packet. Stephen Schwarzman of the US group, Blackstone, isn’t one of them nor is Elon Musk of Tesla fame. Despite enormous packages, their take home compensation was less than Coates.
This is corporate excess for Luke Hildyard, Executive Director of High Pay Centre in the UK. He also derides Bet365 for poor timing just after the general election.
Accountability in the gambling industry is a major problem and Coates’ late announcement may an attempt to avoid scrutiny and media backlash. According to Hildyard,
Business success should be incentivized and rewarded, but a payment a fraction
of this size would still afford a lifestyle beyond the wildest dreams of most people.”
Coates has nothing to apologize for as her family supports the Labour Party, whose platform it is to redistribute wealth and cap salaries. Obviously, she doesn‘t mind the party’s interest in curbing gambling issues.
Meanwhile Bet36 is one of the biggest private gambling companies in the world, reporting record revenues of $3.9 billion to March 31, 2019. This is a 10 per cent increase over 2018. Pre-tax profit increased 17 per cent to $1 billion.
Clearly, the company can handle Coates’ big pay.
Source: https://www.casino.org/news/bet365-ceo-denise-coates-pays-herself-423-million-in-2019/
