Thomson Reuters CEO James Smith's pay cut - report

Under the headline “Money’s the big story for bosses at Reuters”, the newspaper’s City Spy columnist said that capital markets could be heading for the next boom or bust, but one thing remains constant: bosses at Thomson Reuters, whose terminals flicker with data in trading rooms across the Square Mile, are making out like bandits.

“Granted, it was a tougher year for Jim Smith, the chief executive trying to get the information group moving again. Last year, he bagged a mere $8.2 million (£4.9 million), down from a total of $18.8 million the year before.”

Thomson Reuters’ pay report says Smith’s major achievements include “unleashing our talent through a more focused strategic workforce planning approach”. The Standard asked: “Could that be a veiled reference to the 3000 lay-offs he announced with the last cost-cutting plan - or hark back to the 2500 slated to go before that?”

It said Smith (photo) could enjoy a brighter 2014. The human resources committee has upped his long-term incentive award to a maximum of 350 per cent of his base salary, from 250 per cent.

“Meanwhile, London-based Andrew Rashbass, chief executive of Reuters, trousered $3.8 million for nine months’ work after making ‘solid progress in repositioning Reuters as a mission-driven news business focused more on growing revenues and profitability rather than serving as a cost centre within the company’. He rubbed along on £993,000 when he ran the Economist Group.” ■