Facebook boss paid as much as British PM
|Published
Facebook Ireland's taxable profit was cut to �5.76-million. Facebook Ireland's taxable profit was cut to �5.76-million.
London - A senior executive from Facebook is joining the public payroll – and will be paid almost as much as the British prime minister to try to turn London into a rival to Silicon Valley.
The appointment of Joanna Shields comes at a time when the social networking site has come under fire for paying hardly any tax despite its huge profits.
She will earn £115,000 (about R1.3-million) a year in her new role plus a £25,000 performance-related bonus, meaning her total pay is just short of David Cameron’s £142,500 salary.
Miss Shields, 50, Facebook’s vice president and managing director in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, defended the company against allegations of tax avoidance.
Last year it paid tax of only £200,000 on estimated UK revenues of £175-million.
“What’s missing from the story is why people do it,” she said. “The reason those companies make those decisions is because of the investment environment and the tax environment.”
Miss Shields takes up her post as chief executive of the Tech City Investment Organisation in January. It was set up by the government body UK Trade and Investment to encourage investment in a technology hub around Shoreditch in East London known as Tech City.
Around 3,000 digital companies already operate in the area.
Miss Shields said London was the perfect international hub for digital innovation and should not be the “stepchild” of Silicon Valley in California and Bangalore in India.
Her role is to help secure investment for start-up companies and to lessen the red tape associated with starting a business. It also involves working as a business ambassador promoting the UK around the world. - Daily Mail