After this sale, the British designer will now only own 13 percent more of the company shares than he did before his promotion, and the money will also go to the payment of his tax. This is also on top of his £1 million salary and possible £2 million annual bonus, so he won’t be short of cash anytime soon. The Guardian reported that Bailey remained stoic about the company’s decision to award him so much earlier this year. “I was never sitting there with a pencil drawing clothes,” he explained. “It’s about having a vision and leading the team and ensuring consistency around the globe.”
Even a vision like that, however, can’t placate the unhappy shareholders within the company, and Bailey received a great deal of criticism when he was given the shares worth £20 million, as £1.35 million of them were presented to him before his formal promotion. In fact, more than 50 percent of the investors voted against the remuneration package that he was given. But Burberry clearly knows that Bailey is worth keeping in the company.
“Christopher Bailey has exercised the option on a number of shares that he was awarded during his time as chief creative officer. As part of this process the number of Burberry shares he actually owns has increased. There are only certain times of the year when board members of a public company can sell shares which is why he is doing this now,” a representative from Burberry informed The Guardian.
