Every little help! Tesco Boss brings home £30 million in five years (now, more than the average supermarket workers earn in a day)

MailOnline can reveal that in less than five years, Tesco’s boss made nearly £30 million in less than five years, the largest supermarket in the UK, and it is a crisis of cost of living.

CEO Ken Murphy received a tax cut of £1 million last year but still robbed £9.2 million and made more money a day than Tesco’s UK employees on average throughout the year.

The Irishman’s award is 373 times the typical Tesco worker receives – after an annual profit of more than £3 billion, it wins rival businesses.

However, the 58-year-old’s salary in 2024/25 was 10% lower than £100.2 million in 2023/24, after a lower return on bonuses and a lower performance share plan (PSP).

Murphy questioned his salary last June, which doubled from £4.4 million in 2022/23, and Murphy told Tesco’s annual shareholder meeting: “I accept my compensation.”

“My salary is set by the board of directors as appointed by shareholders. Two-thirds of it are variable and depend on achieving long-term financial goals. ”

Mr Murphy received £4.7 million in 2021/22, his first full-year responsibility to take over on 1 October 2020. He received £992,000 in 2020/21.

Mr. Murphy, a married father of three, joined Tesco from the boots, who was previously regarded as a “lifeguard” and had risen in the retailer rankings.

Born in Cork, he started working in a retail store where his father, 15, was a 15-year-old.

Murphy is a keen sailor and football player at the university, earning a business degree from University Cork before studying at Harvard Business School.

He moved to Boots through a position at the league Unichem, which merged with the 2006 High Street Health and Beautthe Chain, sparking a long and successful career in the group.

Qualified accountant holds a range of administrative positions at Boots and its owners before becoming Chief Business Officer and Global Brand President at Parent Walgreens Boots Alliance.

After a series of deals that eventually made Boots a part of the American giant, Mr. Murphy ended up as executive vice president, reporting directly to the group’s boss – Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina.

He served as Walgreens’ chief business officer in 2018, moving his family back to the UK, and announced in October 2019 that he would replace Dave Lewis, then-head executive executive at Tesco.

Walgreens Boots experienced heavy cost reductions under income pressure, which experts said at the time would allow Mr. Murphy’s valuable experience to take over Tesco.

“The compensation of our executive directors is closely linked to the strong performance of the business,” Alison Platt, chairman of the Tesco Pay Committee, told MailOnline today.

“Our policy reflects the complexity of managing large-scale operations like Tesco and is comparable to other FTSE 50 companies.

The supermarket giant said it expects to make profits to fall by £400 million next year

“There is a large portion of the total packaging due to the meeting of challenging goals in the competitive sector and creating value for all stakeholders.

“We remain committed to the competition and fair rewards program for all our colleagues.

“We continue to invest heavily in our colleagues, with particular focus on improving the compensation competitiveness of our hourly paid colleagues and investing in their well-being through colleague discounts and virtual GP services.

“Earlier this year, we announced a further increase in the hourly wage rate, equivalent to more than £900 million in investments over the past three years.”

Murphy said in a 2012 interview with Retail Week that what keeps him awake at night was “the gap between those rich and those who are not in this country is growing.”

He also said his worst feature was that “it took me a long time to close”, adding that “drive my wife crazy.”

People pay for self-service checkout farming (file image) at Tesco supermarket

Mr Murphy said last month that the price war between British supermarkets was continuing as he pointed to competition throughout the industry “strengthening” and cut targets at fresh costs of up to £500 million.

He said the company is under pressure to cut prices after rival Asda recently promised its biggest price cut in 25 years.

Tesco said profits will be reduced by as much as £400 million next year due to what Murphy calls a “very competitive market.”

The grocery store giant said it expects adjusted operating profits to be between £2.7 billion and £3 billion, compared with £3.1 billion in the most recent fiscal year.

Tesco also said it hopes to cut £500 million from the price of another £500 million under its indirect expenses to “help offset new operating costs inflation”, partly due to the government’s recent tax hikes on employers.

The company warned of rising prices and inflation as employer national insurance contributions (NICs).

When asked if saving drives might mean cutting jobs, Murphy said: “We will never rule out that, but at the same time, we have a good management record.”

Tesco, the largest supermarket in the UK, reports bumper sales for the latest fiscal year

In January, the supermarket announced a layoff of 400 jobs in stores and headquarters, as part of a plan to “simplify” the business.

Still, Tesco also reported bumper sales in the most recent fiscal year, up 3.5% to £63.6 billion.

The supermarket said it increased its market share across the UK to 28.3%, its highest since 2016.

The latest data from Kantar analysts said Tesco has a market share of 27.8%.

Tesco also said it had invested in a 5.2 per cent increase in salary for UK employees, and by the end of August, the hourly rate rose to £12.64.