Permission boss whose bonus sparked outrage quits... but keeps his £76m

Persimmon flags on a housing development
PA Wire/PA Images

The boss whose £100 million bonus sparked outrage bowed to pressure to quit today after housebuilding giant Persimmon said “distraction” over the payout was damaging its reputation.

Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn, who later voluntarily agreed to cut the award to £76 million, is stepping down next month “at the request of the company”. He will keep the bonus, but will not get a pay-off.

Mr Fairburn had hoped to ride out the storm by setting up a charitable trust to hand out part of the windfall.

But a car-crash TV interview last month in which he walked away from a BBC interviewer questioning his mammoth payment went viral on social media and is understood to have sealed his fate.

Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn
PA Archive/PA Images

The company said: “The board believes that the distraction around his remuneration continues to have a negative impact on the reputation of the business and consequently on Jeff’s ability to continue in his role.”

The controversy stems from an uncapped long-term share bonus scheme set up in 2012 when the housing market was in the doldrums in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

But shares in Persimmon and a host of other builders soared in 2013 with the advent of the Government’s Help to Buy initiative to spur the market, generating fortunes for Mr Fairburn and others. Almost half the company’s shareholders voted against the pay plans in April.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said of Mr Fairburn’s departure: “It’s about time — and I hope the lesson has been learned by other executives not to be greedy. It does send a positive sign that boards are taking a firmer grip on excessive executive pay.”

Mr Fairburn has worked at the company for 29 years and led it since 2013. He said: “It is clearly now in the best interests of Persimmon that I should step down.”

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