Talking of IBM, the company's chief executive, Mr Louis Gerstner, has been reaping significant reward for his efforts to turn the firm around.

His contract was recently extended by five years and he was granted a multi-million-dollar options package on the basis that that turnaround is far from complete.

Mr Gerstner (55) joined IBM in 1993 as declining sales of mainframe computers led to almost £16 billion (£10.8 billion) in losses. He slashed more than 35,000 jobs and, in the process, returned the world's largest computer maker to profitability and increased its stock price five-fold.

The company declined to give the value of the options package for two million shares. But Gerstner made $1.5 million in salary and $3.27 million in bonus last year, and already holds $95 million in options.