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BT’s board of directors has also approved a 2.5 per cent bonus for the CEO
BT has approved a 2.5 per cent pay rise for its CEO Gavin Patterson, just two weeks after the company announced that it was making 13,000 staff redundant.
In addition to the pay rise, Mr Patterson is set to receive a £1.3 million for the year, bringing his final remuneration to over £2.3 million. Last year, Mr Patterson took a hefty pay cut and did not receive a bonus, as BT continued to struggle financially.
BT’s share price has been on a downward spiral for over two years, since it peaked at £4.998 per share in October 2015. Today, BT’s shares were trading at £2.075.
The UK’s former incumbent has embarked on an ambitious overhaul of its business in recent weeks. In addition to the swathe of redundancies, the company has also launched a series of converged service offerings through its Consumer Business Division, which it hopes will help to make it more competitive and boost its profitability.
Patterson has also said that BT hopes to have a commercialised 5G offering in the market by 2019 – around 6 months sooner than the majority of its European neighbours. To what extent the launch of 5G will help BT bolster its revenues, remains to be seen.
