Yesterday’s tragic death of Total CEO was also covered extensively by the state media.
It’s easy to see why: he opposed sanctions, was a longtime friend of Russia, and died such an absurd death as a result of classic “Russian carelessness.”
Even so, the reports put out by the state media were truly remarkable. On Channel One, they must have spent about twenty minutes explaining what a wonderful man Christophe de Margerie was. The best in the industry, the very best in every possible way.
Quite possibly he really was that good a man; may he rest in peace.
But those reports prompted me to look into something else: what was the salary of this outstanding businessman? It’s interesting to compare it with that of our state managers, who most certainly have not achieved anything close to what de Margerie did.
To begin with, I should say that information about his income was very easy to find. Total is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, a private company, and unlike our state-owned Rosneft, it actually publishes this information:
Let me remind you that Rosneft chief Sechin not only refuses to disclose information about his income, but also sues journalists who do.
So, we can see that the outstanding businessman Christophe de Margerie, who headed one of the world’s largest oil companies, after working there for 40 years, had a salary of €3.4 million and a bonus package of €1.1 million.
Christophe de Margerie’s total annual compensation was €5.2 million, or $7 million.
Meanwhile, the annual compensation of the head of the state-owned oil company Rosneft is $50 million.
It is unfortunate that the occasion is such a sad one, but these figures once again remind us of the essence of Putin-era state capitalism.
It seems to me that as many Russian citizens as possible ought to know these numbers, so we put together a rough little chart for social media. Post it on your own page—let people take a look.
This is especially timely given the news that Rosneft did, after all, wring 1.5 trillion rubles out of the National Wealth Fund.
And of course, vote against illicit enrichment. Our bill applies to state-owned companies as well.