Highest paid directors

Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP collected £19.7m Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

Reckitt Benckiser's Bart Becht leads the field of the UK's best-paid chief executives, with a salary package totalling £36.8m Photograph: PR

Bob Diamond, Barclays president, made £18,139,000 in 2007. He also collected another £14m from a three-year performance plan shortly after the year end. A former teacher, he joined the bank in 1996 and joined the board in 2005, when his pay first became public. Photograph: Alex Segre/PR

Mick Davies of Xstrata earned £13,953,635 last year. 'Big Mick' has built Xstrata from a small Swiss company worth around £250m into one of the biggest natural resources groups in the world. This year the firm made a £5bn hostile takeover bid for Lonmin, after pulling of a string of earlier acquisitions Photograph: PR

After 21 years at Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager, Stanley Fink quit the business in July. He bowed out on a high as the firm reported profits of $2bn. As well as being among the highest paid directors in the FTSE, earning £12,455,730 last year, he owns shares in Man valued at around £60m when he left. With plenty of charity work to handle, will this be his last appearance in the pay list? Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

Tom Glocer took over as chief executive of Reuters in 2001. The first non-journalist to run Reuters, he held onto the top job after agreeing an £8.7bn takeover of the company by Canadian rival Thomson in May last year. This year his salary, £10,987,070, will be boosted by a £27m windfall from the takeover. He is married to a former Miss Finland, and they have two children. Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Reuters

Peter Clarke, the chief executive of Man Group, was paid £10,813,635 last year. He became CEO in March 2007, replacing Stanley Fink. In his previous role as finance director he topped a similar survey of highest-paid FDs for five years in a row Photograph: Public domain

Santiago Zaldumbide was paid £10,570,438 for running Xstrata's zinc business. The mining group has emerged as the most expensive boardroom in the FTSE 100, paying its directors a combined £30m last year Photograph: PR

Michael Spencer earned £9,131,837 for running ICAP, the world's largest money broker. Having founded the company in 1996 he is now a billionaire, having repeatedly picked up large performance-related bonuses. Photograph: James Boardman/Reuters

Lonmin chief executive Brad Mills was paid £8,219,210 - 790 times the average salary of a worker at the mining company Photograph: Reuters

Away from the main index, the top five earners in the FTSE 250 are company owners. Peter Hargreaves of Hargreaves Lansdown, seen here at home in Somerset, earned more than £10m a year - more than enough to feature on the list of the FTSE 100's best-directors Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Rex Features

Hargreaves' partner in investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown is the Bristol City chairman Stephen Lansdown (L), who also earned more than £10m last year. Hargreaves and Landsdown are City stalwarts, having set up their Bristol-based firm in 1981 Photograph: Daniel Hambury/Empics Sport/PA

Tony Pidgley, head of the Berkeley Group, is the third-highest paid boss in the FTSE 250, taking home more than £7m at housebuilder Berkeley. He left home at the age of 15, barely able to read and write, but set up a haulage business that he sold aged 20 Photograph: David Levene/Freelance

Sports Direct's Dave Forsey (L) with founder and Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley (R). Forsey and Bob Mellor, both directors of the retail firm, earned salaries of £150,000 but banked £5m in bonuses when the company floated in February 2007 Photograph: PR

Like the FTSE 100, many of the highest-paying companies in the 250 are financial. Terry Smith, who runs inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon, was paid £4.7m Photograph: Stuart Clarke/Rex Features