THE BOSS Fortunately Billiton chairman Brian Gilbertson has a sense of humour, which is just as well because last Sunday's London Sunday Times ran an article on the most overpaid and underpaid chief executives among the FTSE top 100 companies.
Shareholders can congratulate themselves that they are getting good value for money.
While a car boot sale at the Gilbertson home is still some way off, Brian can at least console himself that, should he find himself strapped for cash at the end of the month, he can always phone SmithKline Beecham chief executive Jan Leschly who, according to the survey, is the most overpaid executive, pulling in a whopping extra R48-million above his true market value. The Grace Hotel was swift to come up with a stylish response to last week's Briefcase about the correct mixing of dry martinis. Within days an elegantly printed invitation arrived, offering BT hacks a visit to The Grace any time in November to sample a dry martini mixed to their individual specification and to lay their weary heads down for the night if it all proves too much. A BT reader who has been keen to buy one of the new BMW Z3 sports cars told us that the long waiting list has suddenly and mysteriously shortened. Last week his BMW dealer phoned to say he had just had a cancellation and a new Z3 would be immediately available.