Top earners:
It’s enough to make even a bonus-rich businessman blush. While it took only three working days into the new year for FTSE 100 bosses to earn the average workers’ annual salary, football ace Lionel Messi pocketed the same sum in only three hours.
New figures reveal that sports top performers are in a league of their own when it comes to the world’s top earners with Roger Federer on course to become a tennis billionaire.
An outcry followed data from the High Pay Centre showing some business bosses earning eye-watering salaries, including advertising chief Sir Martin Sorrell who took home £48m. Persimmon’s CEO Jeff Fairburn is in line for a £130m payout.
The average remuneration for a FTSE 100 CEO was £4.5 million in 2016, the last full year for which figures are available. This is 120 times what is paid to average workers.
Critics dubbed 4 January “fat cat Thursday” and called for action to end corporate excess at a time when incomes are under pressure from high inflation and low wage growth.
But the top sports stars put even these figures in the shade. Analysts at FreeSuperTips have looked at the earnings of sports’ top earners, with Britain’s top golfer Rory McIlroy now among the sporting elite.
The agency says tennis ace Roger Federer is on course to become a billionaire in 20 years’ time, well after he stops playing.
In 2017, Federer earned just over £47m, with 90% of that income coming from lucrative endorsement deals and merchandise.
Some of sports top earners:
|
Name |
Sport |
Annual Income (GBP) |
Time to earn UK average wage |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lionel Messi |
Football |
£81,987,828 |
2 hours, 56 mins |
|
LeBron James |
Basketball |
£65,893,776 |
3 hours, 40 mins |
|
Roger Federer |
Tennis |
£47,767,660 |
5 hours, 3 mins |
|
Rory Mcllroy |
Golf |
£37,277,958 |
6 hours, 29 mins |
|
Derek Carr |
American Football |
£20,286,756 |
11 hours, 55 mins |
|
Anthony Joshua |
Boxing |
£16,420,133 |
14 hours, 43 mins |
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