Oxfam Report: Europe's Top 100 Companies Fuel Inequality

A new Oxfam report reveals that Europe's 100 largest companies funnel 70% of their profits to shareholders between 2022 and 2024, prioritizing dividends over investment and employment. The report, titled 'Corporate Inequality Framework' and developed with Data for Good, analyzes four domains: People, Power, Profit, and Planet. CEO pay averaged 78 times the average worker salary in 2024, with Carrefour (361:1), Compass Group (352:1), and Inditex (322:1) showing the widest gaps. Top CEO compensations included Stellantis (€22 million), Novartis (€20.3 million), and AstraZeneca (€17.8 million). Only 10% of top executive roles were held by women in 2024, with male CEOs earning 22.9% more than female CEOs. While 79% of companies have diversity goals, only 1% effectively implement them. 48 of the 100 companies paid shareholders 32 times more than they invested in green transition, with Saint-Gobain (838x) and L'Oréal (108x) as extreme cases. Oxfam spokesperson Alexandre Poidatz calls for a maximum 20:1 CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio, dividend caps, and binding gender quotas. The report, published in June 2026, notes the EU's December 2025 'Omnibus' simplification package weakening corporate sustainability reporting, and the US Trump administration's rollback of climate and DEI policies.