Glocer paid £1.7m despite Reuters' woes

Tom Glocer, the chief executive of Reuters, received a £1.7m pay package last year despite presiding over the company's first ever reported loss and a collapse in its shares to new lows.

Mr Glocer received a £612,000 bonus, on top of a £812,000 salary and £282,000 in benefits – which includes £230,000 for accommodation expenses. The Reuters board as a whole saw its remuneration increase from £4.3m in 2001 to £4.7m last year, according to the company's annual report.

Although Mr Glocer got more in 2001, the £2.1m he was paid that year is skewed by a one-off payment of £525,000 to cover his relocation from the US. Last year, Mr Glocer's basic salary was kept at the 2001 level but the bonus was up by £102,000 and benefits were £67,000 higher. Over the past two years, more than 2,500 Reuters employees have been fired, as revenues dropped sharply.

One analyst said: "The huge number of redundancies has really hit morale in the company. People like to think senior management are sharing their pain."

The other executive directors all saw an increase in pay, with Philip Green, the chief operating office, getting £836,000, up from £734,000.