:00:15. > :00:17.Now for the latest financial news with Aaron Heslehurst and
:00:18. > :00:20.Is this man worth 12 million dollars a year?
:00:21. > :00:23.The boss of drugs giant Astrazeneca set to become the latest target
:00:24. > :00:36.Plus - paying homage to the Sage of Omaha.
:00:37. > :00:39.Warren Buffett gathers his investors once again for their annual meeting.
:00:40. > :00:48.But who is going to take over when he finally bows out?
:00:49. > :00:59.It is Friday. We have that Friday feeling and we are going to give you
:01:00. > :01:02.a fascinating snapshot of everything in the world of business and money.
:01:03. > :01:04.Also in the programme: The boom times are over
:01:05. > :01:09.Our Asia team will have that story for you shortly.
:01:10. > :01:12.We are talking big bucks this Friday,
:01:13. > :01:13.specifically the controversial issue of executive pay.
:01:14. > :01:16.Are top bosses worth the money they earn?
:01:17. > :01:18.It's a question many shareholders are asking, as many of the UK's
:01:19. > :01:25.biggest companies hold their annual shareholder meetings.
:01:26. > :01:27.More and more, the answer seems to be no.
:01:28. > :01:33.Earlier this month, BP shareholders revolted over a big
:01:34. > :01:36.pay rise for the boss Bob Dudley, awarding him $20 million despite
:01:37. > :01:43.Almost 60% of shareholders voted against it.
:01:44. > :01:51.Just a week later, Anglo American shareholders also revolted.
:01:52. > :01:54.CEO Mark Cutifani was in line for a $5 million pay-out, despite
:01:55. > :01:57.Anglo being the worst-performing company on the FTSE 100 last year.
:01:58. > :02:04.Today, it's the boss of drug company AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot,
:02:05. > :02:15.They're expected to cry foul over the $12 million pay-out
:02:16. > :02:23.Mr Soriot rejected a takeover bid from Pfizer two years
:02:24. > :02:32.ago, which valued their shares at $22 more than they're worth now.
:02:33. > :02:35.All of these deals pale into insignificance when you look
:02:36. > :02:45.at what Britain's best paid boss is due to earn this year.
:02:46. > :02:47.Sir Martin Sorrell of the world's biggest advertising
:02:48. > :02:50.company WPP is due for a $100 million pay package - most of it in
:02:51. > :02:59.The shareholder lobby group PIRC has already called the deal "excessive,"
:03:00. > :03:02.and he could face a rocky ride at the company's AGM on June nine.
:03:03. > :03:17.I spoke to him yesterday and he was adamant he's worth the money.
:03:18. > :03:25.I am proud of the fact that we have come from nothing to being a world
:03:26. > :03:30.leader, 50% bigger than anyone else in the industry. The next biggest
:03:31. > :03:35.market cap is $20 billion, an American company based here. Are you
:03:36. > :03:41.worth $100 million? Do you think shareholders agree with you? What I
:03:42. > :03:46.have been doing is, over 31 years, investing in the company, never
:03:47. > :03:51.selling shares in the company. So, for example, what you refer to this
:03:52. > :03:55.year, the annual report is out tomorrow, it will confirm the
:03:56. > :03:59.numbers that you are talking about, I have reinvested, I have kept
:04:00. > :04:04.invested after tax all of the amount, so all of my wealth, such as
:04:05. > :04:07.it is, is invested in this company. Joining me now is Peter Parry,
:04:08. > :04:19.policy director at the Welcome to the programme and thank
:04:20. > :04:23.you for coming in. We will talk about Martin Sorrell in a moment. I
:04:24. > :04:31.know that you have some history. In 2012, we saw the shareholder
:04:32. > :04:37.revolt, anger and theory at the annual general meetings. Is it back?
:04:38. > :04:42.-- fury. I think it will keep coming back and I don't think we will see
:04:43. > :04:46.it end until we take steps to fix executive pay and I think it is the
:04:47. > :04:51.system which is the problem. They tried to fix it, at least putting in
:04:52. > :05:01.the coalition government, Vince Cable, Business Secretary, tried to
:05:02. > :05:04.implement awards, benefits, for performance, right? Absolutely, and
:05:05. > :05:10.we have seen Greenbury and other reports and measures taken to ensure
:05:11. > :05:17.people are rewarded for performance. The problem is, we have a system
:05:18. > :05:22.here whereby I think it is not always clear what the targets are.
:05:23. > :05:30.Shareholders don't know that. Don't they vote on it? The thing that is
:05:31. > :05:37.somewhat... They are told to vote on the targets and if the CEO reaches
:05:38. > :05:40.the targets, they are rewarded. How other shareholders...? There are two
:05:41. > :05:45.issues. There is a vote on the policy. The policy says, we aim to
:05:46. > :05:50.ensure we attract talent and retain it. Those measures we will use in
:05:51. > :05:56.terms of performance measures, earnings per share, other things as
:05:57. > :06:02.well. They are very broad and don't say what the specific targets will
:06:03. > :06:06.be. What shareholders have a vote on is the implementation of that, which
:06:07. > :06:11.is the pay the director has earned in that year. They only know that
:06:12. > :06:17.retrospectively. They don't know it in advance. What I am seeing is, if
:06:18. > :06:24.we will have effective governance, shareholders need to know specific
:06:25. > :06:31.targets on which leaders are being bonus. There is a difference
:06:32. > :06:36.comparing CEOs. Martin Sorrell says he built the company. 31 years, it
:06:37. > :06:42.was a $1.5 million, now it is $30 billion. All the money he is paid
:06:43. > :06:48.goes into the company. The CEO of BP, Bob Dudley, BT have the worst
:06:49. > :06:54.year on record and... There are differences -- BP. Martin Sorrell's
:06:55. > :06:59.pay comes up time after time, it back in 1995 we were talking
:07:00. > :07:04.specifically about his pay, even at that time. It has a long pedigree.
:07:05. > :07:09.The four in his argument is he might let you believe this hundred million
:07:10. > :07:14.dollars, ?70 million, he is paid this year is a final pay-out for
:07:15. > :07:18.years of achieving good results for this company -- fault. But actually
:07:19. > :07:23.he has been paid large amounts of money every year and I think
:07:24. > :07:29.shareholders are getting fed up and saying, come on, this bonus goes up
:07:30. > :07:32.every year, this is too much, and if you ask anyone, I don't think anyone
:07:33. > :07:37.is worth that amount of money. Indeed. I wish I have more time but
:07:38. > :07:40.I don't. Thank you for your thoughts. We are going to talk about
:07:41. > :07:44.Warren Buffett. Hey, we are also
:07:45. > :07:47.in the US where tens of thousands of investors are flocking to Omaha,
:07:48. > :07:57.Nebraska for the annual shareholder For half a century, throughout the
:07:58. > :08:02.ups and downs of the stock market, there is one investor everyone has
:08:03. > :08:07.followed and that is Warren Buffett. He is considered to be the best
:08:08. > :08:10.stock pick up of all time, but his strategies appear to be quite
:08:11. > :08:17.simple. He purchases stocks in goods we use everyday. His investment
:08:18. > :08:22.empire includes close to 90 companies with many household names
:08:23. > :08:27.like Walmart and Coca-Cola. Since he has started buying shares for Burki
:08:28. > :08:34.Hathaway in the 1960s, the company has had an average annual growth of
:08:35. > :08:38.over 19%, almost double the S 500 -- Berkshire. And its shares have
:08:39. > :08:44.risen 2500% in the last quarter century alone. As shareholders of
:08:45. > :08:48.Berkshire Hathaway Ghaffar, there is a concern that Warren Buffett is
:08:49. > :08:55.getting old and his number two is even older, so who will be the
:08:56. > :09:01.future of the company? -- gather. Given the unique nature and culture
:09:02. > :09:06.at Burki -- Burke share Hathaway, I think it will emerge from within the
:09:07. > :09:12.company but there could be an argument for breaking up Berkshire
:09:13. > :09:15.Hathaway, opening up a list speculations -- Berkshire. On
:09:16. > :09:20.Saturday tens of thousands shareholders gather to cheer another
:09:21. > :09:23.year of Warren Buffett's unparalleled success, but one
:09:24. > :09:33.difficult question on the minds of investors will be how much longer it
:09:34. > :09:37.can continue. It is that time of the morning for a bit of Ali Moore in
:09:38. > :09:41.Singapore, it is good to see you. The Chinese economy is slowing down
:09:42. > :09:47.and that has an impact on companies like Baidu. Yes, you are right. It
:09:48. > :09:51.has been quite a good quarter at first glance. We refer to it as the
:09:52. > :09:56.Chinese version of Google with revenue up 24%. Earnings have fallen
:09:57. > :10:00.19%. That revenue growth is the slowest in seven years. It has been
:10:01. > :10:08.a long decline for Baidu with advertisers playing -- paying less
:10:09. > :10:14.than they do for elsewhere. So, Baidu's been putting money into
:10:15. > :10:17.diversifying away from this core business of search engine and also
:10:18. > :10:21.the revenue it gets from search advertising. It is spending on
:10:22. > :10:26.things like subsidies and discounts to try to get market share on what
:10:27. > :10:30.it calls transaction services, which means connecting online customers to
:10:31. > :10:36.bricks and mortar services like food delivery. Another great effort, it
:10:37. > :10:40.is in the race to develop autonomous cars. Everybody's in that race.
:10:41. > :10:43.Don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of
:10:44. > :10:49.I will be back with James to look at some of the newspapers from around
:10:50. > :10:53.the world, ta ta! School heads have attacked
:10:54. > :10:55.the government's testing regime for primary pupils as chaotic
:10:56. > :10:57.and distracting. The National Association of
:10:58. > :10:59.Head Teachers, meeting for its annual conference in Birmingham,
:11:00. > :11:02.says the current system ticks boxes for bureaucrats and politicians but
:11:03. > :11:04.doesn't work for pupils or teachers.