Top highest-paid CEOs of Canada

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International tops the ranking of Canadian CEO salaries for a second time this year — and that’s after a $100 million pay cut.

Michael J. Pearson, Valeant’s CEO, smashed the record for the top spot last year with $183 million in total compensation; this year Valeant’s new CEO, Joseph Papa, held on to the number-one ranking with $83 million.

 

Despite that 55% pay cut, Papa still easily bested the second-highest paid CEO on the list, Magna International’s Donald Walker, at $28 million.

This ranking is compiled each year by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, using publicly available data. (Companies take varying amounts of time to disclose executive compensation, which is why this ranking covers the year 2016.)

The left-leaning think tank uses the figures to highlight the gap between what the average Canadian makes compared to C-suite executives. This year’s average CEO salary among the top 100 highest-paid executives topped $10.4 million, which is 209 times the annual wage of an average Canadian.

Source : https://www.canadianbusiness.com/lists-and-rankings/richest-people/canada-100-highest-paid-ceos/

Darren Huston Holds Masters in Economics from University of British Columbia

Darren Huston, President & CEO of The Priceline Group since 1 January 2014, and also Chief Executive Officer of Booking.com B.V. (Netherlands), a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Priceline Group and the number one online hotel reservation service in the world, a position he has held since September 2011.

Darren Huston came to the Group from Microsoft Corporation, where he served as Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online from 2008 and President & CEO of Microsoft Japan from 2005.

Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Mr Huston was also Senior Vice President at Starbucks Corporation, responsible for acquisitions and new product development. He holds a Masters in Economics from the University of British Columbia and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Read Here : https://www.praguecollege.cz/our-people/darren-huston

Darren Huston climbed the corporate ladder at Starbucks & Microsoft as a senior VP

Darren Huston, the family farmhand turned CEO of $60-billion Priceline Group Inc., is arguably one of the most successful C-suite exports to come out of this province that you’ve never heard of.

Born in Hope, B.C., and equipped with a Master of Economics from UBC and an MBA from Harvard, Huston quickly climbed the corporate ladder at Starbucks and Microsoft as a senior VP, including a three-year run as president and CEO of Microsoft Japan.

In 2011, he landed at Amsterdam-based travel website Booking.com as CEO; in less than three years’ time, he tripled the size of that operation, and in January of this year Huston was named CEO of the parent company, Priceline. 

 In addition to Booking.com and its eponymous website, Priceline’s other online properties include Kayak, Rentalcars, Agoda and Villas.

This June, Priceline expanded into a new digital realm, purchasing table-booking app OpenTable, the preeminent restaurant reservation site, for $2.6 billion.

Read Full Article @ https://www.bcbusiness.ca/what-priceline-group-ceo-darren-huston-learned-from-bill-gates

Travel Insider: Darren Huston

Ten years from now, travel won’t involve any paper, says Darren Huston, president and CEO of the Priceline Group and booking.com. “You’ll have no passport, no credit cards, no confirmation,” predicts the Amsterdam-based Canadian. “You’ll just have your phone in your pocket, and if you lose it, everything will be in the cloud.”

Until someone invents teleportation, though, we’ll still have to fly — something Huston doesn’t actually like to do. (He makes the most of his air time by sleeping and working.) But for now, it’s the only way he can access all the local experiences he craves. “I like bizarre flavours and tastes. I’ve eaten ants in Nairobi, frogs in Vietnam and lots of strange things in China — I really enjoy that about travel.”

Black book: Europe

Comfort food: “In Amsterdam, if I feel homesick, I go to Restaurant Red. They only serve three things: steak, Canadian lobster and wine.”

Must Read : Priceline Group CEO remains bullish online travel

Local fave: “Outside of Amsterdam is a little city called Delft, which is where Vermeer did his paintings. Everything still looks like it did in the 1600s.”

Greek treat: “One place I just discovered and should have already known about is the Greek islands. Mario Restaurant in Naousa is super authentic and has a wonderful evening vibe. It’s Greek food and the Greek islands at their best.”

Weekend getaway: “I like spontaneous travel. I used to be a very ‘Let’s plan two months ahead’ kind of person, but now I like making plans the week before. There are so many choices within two hours of Amsterdam. One weekend, I said to my family: ‘Why don’t we just go to Milan? I think the Expo’s on.’ We booked on a Thursday and ended up in Milan for two days. You have to be careful with flights, but in the world of hotels, prices sometimes go down at the last minute and you can get great deals if you’re not in high season.”

Read Full Article @ https://www.ellecanada.com/culture/travel/travel-insider-darren-huston/

How Cryptocurrency can change the Scenario? – By Ronish Baxter

Speaking about the importance of cryptocurrencies, Ronish Baxter said, “What’s the thing that comes to mind instantly when we talk about digitalization? Of course, mobile phone connectivity, Aadhaar, Jan-Dhan accounts, etc. but how many of us think of crypto currency?

Only a few maybe, but with growing popularity of this virtual currency, people in India are also slowly getting to know cryptocurrencies. It’s presently one of the most secure and independent exchange forms to trade and transact with.

Transactions at Low Cost

 

The best thing about cryptocurrency is that, transactions can be done from anywhere almost instantaneously. Also, transactions can be carried out at a fraction of a unit, which means that for sending money to anywhere across the globe, it would no more be a burden on the pocket.

Secure and Safe

It is a de-centralized model where data can be accessed from different computers. Thus, even if a single record is meddled with, it wouldn’t go un-noticed since the blocks are interconnected. This additionally means that, all the blocks need to be changed to get away with the crime. Whenever, a record is manipulated, its digital signature becomes void and users are immediately notified.

How Ronish Baxter Gain Expertisation in CryptocurrencySystem?

Cryptocurrencies are Far Reaching

Not bound by any boundaries, cryptocurrencies are surely global. This means, easy transactions and secondly, absence of 3rd party dispels any threat of an account being blocked in case, it is being misused. The owner of a cryptocurrency holds its private key and a 3rd party cannot take money away unless the private key is been lost.

Blockchain Technology

 

Blockchain technology most effectively running over the new payment solutions like bitcoin will revolutionize the world. It has been suggested in the beginning there will always be people who will try to misuse it, however technology has always been and continue to be a double edged sword, it depends on us and the Indian government how to strike the right balance.