As ride-sharing app and delivery firm, Uber prepares to float on the New York Stock Exchange it revealed that its highest earning employee last year is a Londoner.

Barney Harford, now based in the United States, joined Uber in 2017 and was made Chief Operating Officer in January 2018.

In its IPO prospectus released on Thursday, Harford was shown as earning $47.6m in “total compensation.” That’s higher than the $45m earned by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Harford’s pay package included $500k as salary, then a $1m bonus, stock worth $26.3m, options at $19.6m, plus security-related costs ($189k), temporary housing cost reimbursement ($40k) and $31k to pay taxes on the aforementioned reimbursement.

Windfall for top Uber execs

When Uber floats, the company’s top five executives could potentially cash in an estimated $380m worth of stock options between them – subject to how well the company performs.

Although born in London, Harford was raised in Manchester, where he attended grammar school before graduating from the University of Cambridge.

He joined Expedia in 1999 and rose through the ranks to become President, Expedia Asia Pacific in 2004.

Between 2009 and 2015 he was CEO and Board Director of Orbitz Worldwide, which was acquired by Expedia for $1.6bn.

As well as being responsible for Uber’s global ridesharing strategy, operations, marketing and customer support, he also leads Uber Eats and is a Board Director of United Airlines.

The Uber filing showed that the company reported total revenues of $11.27bn in 2018, but an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.85bn.