Cost of living; what are the CEO’s of Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco & Morrisons net worth amid rising food prices?

Supermarket bosses have been placed under scrutiny this week, as bosses from Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons were grilled over high food and fuel prices during a Business and Trade Committee inquiry on Tuesday. The meeting was to look at why, despite some wholesale food prices falling, consumers are still seeing the cost of goods at supermarkets rise during a continued cost of living crisis.

Statistics provided by the British Retail Consortium, who represent the supermarkets, have shown that food prices rose by 14.6% in the year to June,. That was down from 15.4% in the year to May, but it does not mean prices are falling, just that they are rising at a slower pace. 

However, that was challenged by the committee who are examining if the lack of competition in the supermarket industry has led to customers overpaying, with Conservative MP Jane Hunt asking if the executives were "in fact a cartel" and were colluding to set prices.

A number of British supermarkets have previously said they have cut prices when possible and added that falls in wholesale costs take time, typically three to nine months, to filter through to the shelves. 

They also pointed out that they all paid the National Living Wage or above and argued they were doing all they could to protect customers from higher costs resulting from increased energy, labour and commodity prices.

But the committee chairman, Darren Jones, said he had heard of Asda employees recently "having to go to the food bank to collect donations of food they had stacked in their own supermarket because they cannot make ends meet". 

He also said that all four supermarkets, with the exception of Morrisons, had made increased profits compared to before the Covid pandemic, echoing suggestions that retailers might be failing to pass on savings and are banking the profit instead.

What is the net worth of the CEO’s of Britain’s leading supermarket chains?

While the supermarket bosses who were at the committee meeting have rejected claims of making excess profits and said they were shielding customers from the full impact of rising costs, telling MPs the industry is the "most competitive we have ever been," PeopleWorld took at look at the net worths of the four CEO’s of the supermarkets that have been under the spotlight.

ASDA’s Lord Stuart Rose leads the way with an estimated net worth in 2023 of £41.6 million, miles ahead of his closest competitor, Sainsbury's Simon Roberts with £19.7 million. Ken Murphy, CEO of Tesco is said to be worth £15 million since the end of lockdown restrictions.

The figures used for these amounts were sourced from Wallmine and ListofCEO and are accurate as of the time of writing