£10m pay
packet for Soho's
landlord
Monday August 27, 2001
Paul Raymond, the porn and property magnate, is reported to have paid himself almost £10m last year.
Best known for his soft porn publishing business, Mr Raymond - who at 75 would by now have been forced to retire from the board of any FTSE 100 company - also has investments in property in the Soho district of central London.
A flamboyant self-made millionaire, Mr Raymond started his working life washing dishes for as little as £1 a week.
Through his Soho Estates operation, he now owns most of Soho, or at least the freeholds on two-thirds of the properties in the district where he also owns the Revue Bar. He publishes eight of the 10 highest circulation porn magazines.
According to a report, recent filings made to Companies House, show that he paid himself a £7.2m salary and £2m dividend last year - almost double the £ 5.5m he handed out to himself in 1999.
Profits of his businesses fell from £23m to £ 21.6m but, according to a report, this was put down to additional salary costs. It was unclear whether this rise in costs was down to his extra pay alone.
His road to riches can be traced
back
to his
decision to
set
up the Soho strip joint
Raymond's Revuebar
in
1958.
But
this may be the last
pay
package
from his Paul Raymond
Organisation because he is
expected to retire later
this
year.