Alan Joyce, the head of Qantas, got a lot of criticism for his huge salary.
Alan Joyce, the CEO of Qantas, has been slammed after it came out that he made an eye-popping amount in just 10 years.
After it came out that Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was paid almost $80 million in just 10 years, 2GB radio host Ben Fordham ripped into him.
Even though the airline has been getting a lot of criticism for how it has been doing since the Covid lockdown restrictions were lifted, the salary is still very high.
Travelers have complained about long lines, flights that were canceled, lost luggage, and having to wait months to get their money back for tickets they never used.
While this was going on, Mr. Joyce was in charge of an aggressive cost-cutting program. 9400 jobs were cut, and the ground handling of bags was outsourced, which led to 1700 people losing their jobs.
But despite Qantas's growing problems, Mr. Joyce has been making a lot of money as its CEO. Between 2012 and 2020, he made $75 million, and in the last two years, he made another $4.2 million.
On Tuesday, radio host Ben Fordham got angry about the news and made it clear that it didn't impress him.
"That just blows my mind," he said about the Qantas boss, whose $19 million home was egged in a mysterious attack in July.
"It's disgusting that the boss gives himself a huge bonus while thousands of people are stuck on the tarmac."
In 2017, Mr. Joyce made an incredible $25 million in only one year.
Even though the airline was shut down because of the pandemic, Mr. Joyce still made $4.2 million in 2021 and 2022.
And when Qantas lost $2.8 billion in 2014, Mr. Joyce made $50 million in salary and shares over the next three years, the AFR said.
Qantas said it put Mr. Joyce's base salary back to what it was in 2019 because he didn't get paid for three months in 2020 and one month in 2021. He also got less pay for three months in 2021.
In addition to his base pay of $2.17 million, Mr. Joyce was given the right to buy 698,000 shares if Qantas turned a profit by August 2023.
Qantas shares are currently worth $5.28 each, so if they stay at that level, the bonus shares could be worth more than $3.6 million.
But during his time as CEO, the company's reputation has gone from being the third best in the world to the eighth best, according to the World Airline Awards.
Even though customers have been upset and the airline is having more and more problems, Qantas has been raising the prices of its flights.
Citigroup analyst Samuel Seow found that in 2018-19, Qantas ticket prices are almost a third higher than they were before the pandemic.
"It's mind-boggling, and when huge amounts of money are paid to the CEO, it draws a lot of attention," Fordham said.
"The buck really has to stop on Alan Joyce's desk, and when so many bucks are going to Alan Joyce, the pressure is really on the Qantas CEO.
"When a company's reputation takes a hit, people start to ask questions and look to the CEO for answers.
"Giving so much money to one person is going to put a lot of pressure on that person, so they need to improve their performance quickly.
"If that doesn't happen soon, I think Alan Joyce will have a hard time making his huge salary make sense."
Fordham said that the board and shareholders were to blame for supporting Mr. Joyce.
"Part of me wants him to do well," Fordham said.
"If the shareholders back you and the Qantas board says, 'Well, this is what he's worth,' then good luck to him.
"But does it pay to read Alan Joyce?”
Mr. Joyce has been criticized by more than just Fordham.
Tony Sheldon, a senator for the Federal Labor Party, said that Joyce's pay packet was "offensive as all hell."
"It's disgusting that he makes a lot of money while thousands of people are stuck in Bali and other places," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Flights continue to be canceled all over Australia. All the jobs that were lost, all the lives that were ruined, and all for Joyce's paycheck."
Qantas has said that our recent operational performance has changed in a big way.
Friday, Qantas released a report that showed Mr. Joyce's pay is 77% lower than it was before Covid. It is down 65% among the top senior executives.
It says that Mr. Joyce's 15% increase from last year to this year is because he voluntarily took a 15% pay cut last year. This is his base pay getting back to the amount he was hired for.
His base pay has been frozen for three years, and he hasn't gotten any annual bonuses. This makes him the only CEO in the ASX100 who didn't get a bonus in either FY20 or FY21.
Alan Joyce's earnings
$2.27 million for FY22, which ends on June 30, 2022.
FY21: $1.98 million (including one month of zero pay and three months of reduced pay)
FY20: $1.74 million (including three months of zero pay)
FY19: $9.99 million
FY18, or the year that ends on March 31, 2018, was worth $10.86 million.