Richard Desmond, one of the most lavishly remunerated men in the newspaper business, enjoyed a considerable boost to his estimated £1.9 billion fortune last year.

The annual results of Northern & Shell Network, the holding company for the colourful publisher’s media assets, are expected to show this week that the Daily Express owner paid himself more than £40 million.

The generous payout is bound to inflame unions: it was made in the same year that Mr Desmond unveiled plans to make one in ten journalists on his national newspapers redundant.

But the 55-year-old is probably more focused on his next deal than on any ensuing row: plans include seeking to complete a £220 million flotation of Portland, a broadcasting business that includes adult entertainment.

The publisher, whose Northern & Shell network takes in titles including the Daily Express and Sunday Express newspapers as well as the celebrity magazine OK!, which he is busy expanding internationally, has courted controversy for much of his career.

His acquisition, in 2000, of the Daily Express, the Daily Star and the Sunday Express from Lord Hollick met with outrage from some observers, astounded that the publisher of Asian Babes could secure a mainstream newspaper group.

In 2004 he was again in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after reports that he had thrown a high-level business meeting into chaos by goose-stepping around a boardroom shouting abuse and making Nazi-style salutes. The reported outburst came during a meeting with executives of the Telegraph Group, whose titles had attracted interest from Axel Springer, the Berlin-based media company.

The account of the meeting was not at the time denied by Mr Desmond’s spokesman.

Last year a potential further outcry was averted when Mr Desmond’s Daily Star pulled before publication of a spoof “Daily Fatwah” page.

The publisher’s assets include a house in The Bishop’s Avenue, Hampstead, one of London’s most exclusive roads, whose residents have included the Sultan of Brunei and Lakshmi Mittal, the steel magnate. He also owns, with his wife, Janet, the Express building in London.

Mr Desmond, who left Christ’s College, Finchley, aged 15, lists music and fitness as his recreations.

Aside from his payout, the accounts for the year ending December 21, 2006, are expected to put Northern & Shell’s turnover at £460.5 million, down from £463.5 million last year.

Pre-tax profits are expected to total £9.1 million.

Critics accuse the publisher of cheapening his newspapers by cutting costs and sacking journalists.

He bought the Express titles for a measly £25 million. After a wave of redundancies and other changes the titles could fetch up to £500 million.

In America a thirst for celebrity gossip is helping OK! to sell more than one million copies a week.