High-flying CEO Salaries Plummet
Image: YLE / Arja Lento
It’s not just the man on the street who’s feeling the pinch of the economic recession. The captains of industry are also seeing their salaries shrink in the face of dwindling business profits. Statistics say the decline is on average about ten percent.
There are just seven members of Finland’s exclusive million-dollar salary club. They include some familiar names, such as Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo of Nokia, Mikael Lilius of Fortum and Björn Wahlroos of Sampo Bank.
As early as last year, a flagging economy was already beginning to make its mark on the pay packets of the stock market’s fat cats. YLE reviewed the salaries of the heads of the 30 largest stock exchange-listed companies, and found evidence that they were taking home less money. On average, salaries fell by over ten percent compared to the 2007, when just one year earlier, in 2006, they were still on the rise – by about 10 percent.
Statistics Finland says that last year employee salaries grew by five percent, bucking the downward trend posted by the salaries of their superiors.
Disappointing Bonuses
The YLE survey showed that about 50 percent of bosses had to contend with dwindling salaries, in most cases caused by a fall-off in merit pay or performance bonuses.
Among the best-known names hit by the trend of shrinkin salaries was Nokia’s Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, whose income plummeted by more than 40 percent. Sampo Bank’s Björn Wahlroos and Nokian Tyres’ Kim Gran had to put up with pay checks that were nearly 40 percent smaller than before.
About 50 percent of CEOs did get pay increases, but significant pay rises were evident in only a small number of businesses.
Hannu, Syrjälä, became the CEO of Tieto (formerly TietoEnator) in February 2007. He enjoyed a dizzying 112 percent increase in the size of his pay packet. However CEO’s who’ve been in their seats for a number of years aren’t as lucky.
The 7-Man Millionaire Club
Seven of Finland’s top businessmen were eligible to join the rarefied millionaire club, dropping one member in the New Year. Perhaps not surprisingly, the most highly-paid is Kallasvuo, who earned 1.9 million euros last year. He was followed closely by Wahlroos with 1.8 million.
The global economic meltdown has pushed Finland down the slope of recession, making harder for aspirants to make it into the exalted company of the Kallasvuos and Wahlroos’.
YLE