Huge Tesco boss pay exposes myth of ‘cost of living crisis’
Tesco’s CEO pay increased by almost a million last year from £9.93m to £10.8m. Fat cat salaries and the profits of privatised essentials show the cost of living crisis is manufactured. In fact, Tesco sets a stark example.
Manufactured, not a real ‘cost of living’
The real cost of living is when essentials come at cost price. Whether that’s supermarkets, housing, water or energy, the concept remains. But the supermarket giant Tesco made £3.2bn in operating profit in 2025/26. Also, its CEO’s pay packet, which includes his bonus, is entirely unnecessary. Instead, we should have cost price supermarkets. This would avoid middleman wealth extraction.
And when it comes to housing, the average private renter spends £902 a month. That accounts for 41% of a £2,200 take-home salary. In total, this adds up to £119 billion a year across 11 million renters.
Instead, we should have cost price housing. That means the person can pay back the cost of building and designing the house in affordable monthly payments. Then, the person can enjoy full home ownership. This would end the housing bubble and bring down prices across the board. Much like Tesco could lead the way in supermarkets by implementing similar affordability principles.
Easy money, extractive practices
The alternative approach demonstrates that the current ‘cost of living crisis’ is manufactured. That’s because landlords would no longer be extracting over a hundred billion per year in rent that doesn’t go towards home ownership for the tenant, and retailers such as Tesco wouldn’t be able to profit excessively from essentials.
Water and energy companies are also making significant profit that further shows the ‘cost of living crisis’ is manufactured by the current system. In 2022/23, water utilities in the UK made £1.7bn — almost double what they made in 2018/19. And in the first quarter of 2026, BP more than doubled its profits. Clearly, the same trend is seen with Tesco in food retail.
Modernising the UK could further lower costs. That’s through automating industries like farming and vehicles. Re-imagining the system to ensure people pay cost price for essentials would transform the affordability crisis into one where people have the money to enjoy life.
Featured image via Leon Neal/Getty Images
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Unfun fact. Tesco is short for Tes & Cohen, as the founder didn’t want people figuring out it was a jewish business.
Oh look at that, evil zionist tendencies, who would have guessed, how shocking, totally unexpected, etc etc
Why are they still in business?
Why do the public keep shopping at evil business?
Ignorance?
Malice?
Refusal to take any action?
Genociding children an acceptable loss just so you can get your meal deal discount on your sandwiches whilst your spyware card gives you free doggie treats for every time you hand over your personal data?
Bravo public, b r a v o, real moral society you have going on here.
Hey I heard Amazon horribly mistreat their workers and Elbit still sell weapons directly to israel, maybe we should give both of those even more business? If Tesco ‘put GPS trackers on staff and face scanners in forecourts’ is fine then boy howdy there’s a shit ton of other terrible companies you should also unconscionably shop at.
Tesco isn’t owned by Jewish people . The company was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919. Whether Teso is implicated in the genocide in some way I don’t now. It stocks goods from Israel and uses an Israeli tech company. It claims not to stock goods from the settlements.
The absurd levels of pay are indeed unjustifiable and a result of neoliberal ideology with its share buy backs and financialisation.
Sadly people worship wealth and are in awe of it.
Anyone still using Amazon in 2026 is just a good little capitalist doggie. No hope for them.
Supermarket extremist price gouging for their fatcunt ceos and huge profits is a permanent fixture in the UK. Every one of them is profiteering from basic needs and has been for decades.
And so many of their dumb staff refuse to even see it, lap it up and bully customers instead, but that’s Brits all over, as long as they can feel superior to immigrants or starving and homeless in their little fascist control freak ways.
First they came for…… etc UK’s a nasty fascist nation full of nasty little people. Leave while you can.