manager salaries
Bahnchef deserves more – the Supervisory Board agrees
The CEO of Deutsche Bahn, Richard Lutz, will receive a ten percent increase in salary in the future. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Due to the financial difficulties in the Corona crisis, the increase in 2021 was suspended. But in the future, the rail boss Richard Lutz should get more money – and not only him.
Bahn boss Richard Lutz and the group board member responsible for passenger transport, Berthold Huber, can look forward to higher salaries. The supervisory board approved an increase in fixed salaries on Wednesday, according to sources within the board.
The two board members will therefore receive ten percent more in the future. The increase was actually planned for last year. Due to the financial difficulties of the group in the Corona crisis, it was suspended at the time. Lutz’ fixed salary was last at 900,000 euros a year, Huber’s at 650,000 euros.
The supervisory board also extended the contracts of finance and freight transport directors Levin Holle and Sigrid Nikutta by five years. However, the seven-strong Deutsche Bahn board of directors is facing changes with the recently announced departure of Ronald Pofalla.
The infrastructure board wants to stop at the end of April. Berthold Huber is the favorite for Pofalla’s successor, as already announced on Tuesday from supervisory board circles. Accordingly, there could be a special meeting of the control committee “soon”. The “Spiegel” had previously reported on the personnel.
business figures discussed
On Wednesday, the supervisory board also discussed the business figures for the past year, which Deutsche Bahn intends to publish on Thursday. According to media reports, the bottom line was a minus of around 900 million euros with sales of 47 billion euros. In 2020, the minus was even higher at 5.7 billion euros.
With billions of investments, especially in the existing network, Deutsche Bahn is still pursuing the goal of doubling the number of passengers by 2030. However, critics consider these goals to be “illusory”. Winfried Wolf, co-author of an “Alternative Annual Report”, pointed out on Wednesday in Berlin that in the Corona years 2020 and 2021 only around 81 million passenger journeys were recorded in ICE and Intercity trains due to the crisis. This year Deutsche Bahn expects significantly more than 100 million.