£80m for 10 bosses as shares fall

Ten heads of some of Britain's biggest businesses earned more than £80 million between them last year - at a time when eight out of 10 of their company share prices fell sharply.

Top of the list was Dr Jean-Pierre Garnier, chief executive of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, who enjoyed a pay package of £20.3million, including salary, bonuses, share options and all other benefits apart from pension contributions.

Dr Garnier earned nearly twice as much as his counterpart at Vodafone, Sir Christopher Gent, who managed £12.3million to come second in the table compiled for Bloomberg News, the financial information group. The survey, which revealed more than half the top 10 bosses were foreigners - typically Dutch or American - valued share options on the date they were granted but excluded all options cashed in during the financial year.

The findings will add to the controversy of directors' pay, particularly at a time of falling share prices. The shares of Cable & Wireless fell 63 per cent last year while Graham Wallace, its chief executive, enjoyed a package of £3.84 million.