BP chief to receive €7.8m golden handshake

BP’s outgoing chief executive Lord Browne joined the company as plain John Browne in 1966 and has forged a career with the oil giant spanning more than 40 years.

He became chief executive of the company in 1995 and oversaw the merger of BP with US oil firm Amoco in 1998. His services to industry were rewarded with a knighthood the same year, before he was made a life peer – Lord Browne of Madingley – in 2001.