Deliveroo CEO pay rises by 16% to £600,000 – plus £5m in shares

theguardian.com:

Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu was handed a near 16% basic pay rise this year after taking home a £519,200 salary and £5.2m share payout last year.

The takeaway courier boss will receive basic pay of £600,000 this year and is set to receive another near £5m of shares in April next year, part of a £30m package over the next six years according to the group’s annual report published on Wednesday.

Alex Marshall, the president of gig-workers union IWGB, criticised the large payouts which come, he says, at a time when couriers – forced by Deliveroo to pay their own fuel and vehicle expenses – are facing an unprecedented increase in the cost of living and fuel.

“These couriers put in a huge shift, working all through the pandemic to get food out to isolating families, but like many workers, they are paying for the price of the pandemic while bosses line their pockets,” he said.

Deliveroo claims, based on a rider survey, that 85% of its riders globally are satisfied or very satisfied working for the company and recruitment and retention rates had “remained robust” last year despite rising job vacancies in the UK and elsewhere.

Shu’s latest rise in basic pay comes after a hefty 47% jump in basic pay between 2020 and last year as well as 33.3m of shares handed to Shu before the company listed on the stock market a year ago, worth almost £40m at today’s share price.

The £5.2m in shares Shu received in December, and those positioned for April next year, are part of an additional 27.1m shares package lined up at the time of the initial public offering, which is gradually being handed to the Deliveroo founder over the next six years. Those shares were worth £105.6m when first awarded but have dived in value since Deliveroo’s flotation