It's patronizing PR pablum, I'll admit. But part of me thinks hey, at least it's the lesser of two evils (the other being the actual taking of a massive salary)

It's patronizing PR pablum, I'll admit. But part of me thinks hey, at least it's the lesser of two evils (the other being the actual taking of a massive salary). Even the least sophisticated Virgin employee is probably savvy enough to understand that Sir Richard doesn't need a salary, and that his enrichment from ownership of the company does not come from such. Accordingly, they probably understand that his "I'm not taking a salary" line rings a little hollow. Nevertheless, in their eyes, this is probably better than "I'm only taking $9 million base this year instead of the customary $15mm." There are plenty of Founder-CEOs who do take hefty salaries on top of their equity stakes, even in lean years. By comparison, Richard Branson isn't necessarily a saint, but he's better than many. As for whether or not he needed to call this out in his letter, I dunno. Decent PR move with probably little to no risk of blowback.