The debate over CEO pay is decades long. Boards believe their chief executive officers have skills that cannot be replaced. Shareholders and workers believe that annual compensation, which can go into the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, can never be justified, mainly if the company’s workers are paid very little.

…Based on 2022 data provided so far for S&P 500 companies, according to AI-driven SEC data company MyLogIQ, David Goeckeler, the CEO at Western Digital, made 3,332 times the median pay of his workers. His pay was $32,137,338. The median pay of workers, some located overseas, was $9,644. Of Western Digital’s 62,500 employees, about 86% were located in Asia. That is not much of an excuse for the extraordinary pay package.