Dr Tony O'Reilly has been included in a list, compiled by the US magazine Business Week, of executives who have delivered least to shareholders in return for their pay.

In its annual executive pay survey, a bid to measure how closely pay matches performance, Business Week compares an executive's total compensation with the company's return to shareholders over a three-year period and with corporate profitability over the same time frame.

Dr O'Reilly served as chairman and chief executive officer of leading US food group H J Heinz until last year when Mr William Johnson took over as CEO and Dr O'Reilly became non-executive chairman.

His total pay - including salary, bonus and long-term compensation - over the three-year period from 1996 to 1998 is put at $104,678,000 (€96,600,000). The total return to shareholders, including both share price appreciation and reinvested dividends, over the same period is 86 per cent - for every $100 invested three years earlier, a shareholder would have come away with $186 at the end of 1998.

This performance puts him in fourth place on Business Week's list of executives who gave shareholders least for their pay behind Walt Disney's Mr Michael Eisner, Mr Sanford Weill of Citigroup, and Mr Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum.

Microsoft's Mr Bill Gates and investment guru Mr Warren Buffett ranked second and fifth respectively among the executives who gave shareholders most for their pay.

When Dr O'Reilly's pay is measured against corporate profitability, he does not fare particularly well either. His pay, compared with the company's return on equity, earns him a rating of five from Business Week, the worst position on a scale of one to five.