Ocado chief pockets £50 million bonus

The boss and founder of Ocado has pocketed £49.8 million in the latest huge bonus payout for the chief.

Free shares were handed to Tim Steiner earlier this month in relation to a long-term bonus set up in 2014. On Friday he sold the shares in full, taking home the bumper pay.

Chief financial officer Duncan Tatton-Brown and chief operations officer Mark Richardson also cashed in their own free shares worth £12.4 million each.

Luke Jensen, boss of Ocado’s technology business, took home £5.8 million.

The executives have benefited from recent share price rises, thanks to deals struck with Marks & Spencer and US retail giant Kroger.

A new bonus scheme was set up last month for the Ocado board which could see Mr Steiner pocket a further £100 million over the next five years – but only if the shares jump significantly over that period.

Investor advisory groups have criticised the size of bonuses paid out at Ocado, with Glass Lewis calling it “excessive”.

At Ocado’s annual general meeting earlier this month about a quarter of shareholders voted against the new pay policy.