He has been severely criticized in the media for his salary of 900,000 kronor ($106,204) per month, the equivalent of 45 postmen. Nordström responded on TV4’s morning news programme on Saturday that he is prepared to forgo his entire salary.
“I am aware, as you have implied, that this is a hopeless discussion for me to conduct. I have therefore decided to forgo my salary, out of regard to Posten, Posten’s employees, Posten’s customers and myself, because I do not like the insinuation that I am greedy,” he said to TV4.
TV4’s presenter then asked Nordström if he plans to forgo his entire salary, to which he replied:
“Yes.”
Lars G Nordström will therefore pay back any salary received since being appointed to the post as CEO in the summer and will be paid no further salary for the remainder of his employment at Posten.
The company has confirmed that the decision is entirely his own.
The salary awarded to Nordström is double that received by his predecessor Erik Olsson, according to Dagens Nyheter. Explained at the time by Posten’s chairperson Marianne Nivert as it did not include any pension nor bonus entitlements.
However Lars G Nordström will not be feeling the pinch this Christmas as he receives almost five million kronor in annual pension from his time as CEO of Swedish state-owned bank Nordea. In addition he receives a total of 1.2 million kronor from directorships at Nordea and state-owned telecom company Telia Sonera.