The data also exposed massive wage differences between bosses and workers
AstraZeneca chief Pascal Soriot soared above other chief executives around the world after he was named the highest-paid boss in 2020, a think tank analysis has revealed.
According to the High Pay Centre, Soriot earned $29.53 million in 2020, thanks to his role in the development of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
AstraZeneca is the only pharmaceutical company selling the vaccines without any profits, and has committed to producing one billion doses to deliver to low and middle-income nations, Sky News reported.
Under Soriot's leadership, the company has made a revival and was able to decline a $165 billion takeover attempt from rivalling firm Pfizer.
The AstraZeneca chief's earnings brought him on top of the FTSE 100 last year, with a significant gap between second-place Brian Cassin of credit reference agency Experian, who made $19.6 million according to BBC News.
Landing third with earnings of GBP99.2mn was building material company CRH chief Albert Manifold, followed by Laxman Narasimhan's Reckitt Benckiser with GBP9.24mn, and then housebuilder Berkeley's Rob Perrins with GBP8.03mn.
According the report from Sky News, another significant high-earner last year was Bet 365 boss Denise Coates, who earned a whopping GBP421mn. However, Coates was not included in the FTSE 100 because the gambling firm was held privately.
Executive-employee wage gaps
Overall, High Pay Centre's analysis also revealed a massive difference between the top bosses in the UK and an average earner.
Analysis showed that the median pay of the bosses included in the FTSE 100 was $5.1 million, 86 times bigger than the median earnings of a UK worker.
Luke Hildyard, director of High Pay Centre, said the difference in the earnings "reflects a wider gap between rich and poor in the UK than in most other European countries."
"The inequalities exposed by the pandemic and the volume of public money used to protect large businesses could strengthen the argument for measures to contain top pay and re-balance extreme income differences," Hildyard added.
Despite the massive amount, however, the median pay for the executives last year was still 17% down from the $6.2 million in 2019.
