Tag: CEOs

Discovery Chief Got Options Valued at $190 Million on Eve of AT&T Deal

Discovery Inc. DISCB -1.47% gave Chief Executive David Zaslav 14.8 million stock options on Sunday, the day before the company and AT&T Inc. T -1.14% announced a plan to merge Discovery with AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, according to a securities filing.

The company valued the option grants at roughly $190 million on Wednesday evening, taking into account the company’s share-price volatility and potential stock appreciation over their eight-year term.

The shares underlying the options were valued at $489 million on Wednesday afternoon, as Discovery’s Class A stock traded around $33 a share. Discovery shares have fallen about 16% since the start of trading on Monday, shortly after the deal was unveiled. The options are currently trading out of the money, meaning the share price would need to rise over the next eight years for Mr. Zaslav to profit from exercising them.

…Mr. Zaslav has run Discovery since 2007 and previously ran a business unit for NBC Universal Inc. He has ranked among the current S&P 500’s 10 highest-paid CEOs in 10 of the past 11 years, according to data from MyLogIQ, which provides data from securities disclosures.

Will Shareholders Halt the Inexorable Rise of CEO Pay?

Last year was a terrible one for travel of any sort. You would not know it from the way some American chief executives trousered pay. Annual filings show that Larry Culp, boss of ge, whose jet-engine business stalled as aviation nosedived, earned $73m, almost triple his total pay in 2019. Christopher Nassetta, ceo of Hilton, a hotel chain, enjoyed a 161% pay boost, receiving $55.9m. Norwegian Cruise Line, which described 2020 as the hardest year in its history, more than doubled the compensation of its ceo, Frank Del Rio, to $36.4m. All three were among the corporate titans who grandly took cuts in their basic pay and/or bonuses during the pandemic. They pocketed far more than they gave up.

They did so thanks to a nifty conjuring trick performed in boardrooms across America last year. In effect, many boards airbrushed away the impact of covid-19 on performance-based pay either by removing a quarter or two of bad numbers in order to meet bonus targets, changing the metrics mid-course, or—as with Messrs Culp, Nassetta and Del Rio—by issuing new share grants after the pandemic gutted the previous ones. (Mr Culp and Mr Del Rio also got contract extensions.)

…According to MyLogIQ, a data gatherer, the median pay of 450 CEOs running firms in the S&P 500 that have reported so far was $13.2 million last year, an increase for the fifth year running.

This Is the Lowest Paid CEO in America

For years, CEO pay has caused a battle at many companies between board members and shareholders. Board members say chief executive officers are rate commodities, trained for years to run some of America’s largest public companies. Many shareholders and public activists do not see why CEOs should make hundreds of times more than schoolteachers and firefighters. One public company CEO made $211,131,206 last year, the highest among all CEOs of S&P 500 corporations.

Not every CEO has a huge pay package. Some work for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of these are large shareholders in their own companies. Warren Buffett, of Berkshire Hathaway, is an example. However, he is one of the richest men in the world. For part of his tenure as chief executive of Apple, Steve Jobs was paid a base of only $1. However, he was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, at least. His successor, on the other hand, Tim Cook, has had huge pay packages.

Two CEOs took only a $1 in total composition last year, according to company proxies. These proxies were examined for 24/7 Wall St. by MyLogIQ, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to screen public company documents.

These CEOs Made Only $1 Last Year

For years, CEO pay has caused a battle at many companies between board members and shareholders. Board members say chief executive officers are rate commodities, trained for years to run some of America’s largest public companies. Many shareholders and public activists do not see why CEOs should make hundreds of times more than schoolteachers and firefighters. One public company CEO made $211,131,206 last year, the highest among all CEOs of S&P 500 corporations.

Not every CEO has a huge pay package. Some work for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of these are large shareholders in their own companies. Warren Buffett, of Berkshire Hathaway, is an example. However, he is one of the richest men in the world. For part of his tenure as chief executive of Apple, Steve Jobs was paid a base of only $1. However, he was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, at least. His successor, on the other hand, Tim Cook, has had huge pay packages.

Two CEOs took only a $1 in total composition last year, according to company proxies. These proxies were examined for 24/7 Wall St. by MyLogIQ, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to screen public company documents.

Mark Zuckerberg Spent Almost $2 Million on Private Aircraft Last Year

Among the perks of being a chief executive officer are private security and the use of company aircraft. Among the CEOs who spent the most on private aircraft last year was Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook. He spent $1,848,630 in 2020, $2,952,255 in 2019 and $2,597,320 in 2018.

Zuckerberg’s cost of private security was $13,439,634 in 2020, $10,463,717 in 2019 and $9,956,847 in 2018, according to data provided by MyLogIQ, which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze public company data.

The Facebook proxy shows that the private plane costs are:

      “For purposes of reporting the value of personal usage of private aircraft in this table, we use costs provided by the applicable charter                  company, which include passenger fees, fuel, crew, and catering costs.” 

CEO Pay Surged as Revenue Plummeted in 2020 Amidst Pandemic

In spite of unemployment rates as high as 14.8% during the height of the pandemic in April 2020, the salaries of CEOs at S&P 500 corporations rose to record levels in 2020. Based on data from MyLogIQ, among S&P 500 CEOs who disclosed their compensation, 206 of 322 earned more in 2020 than in 2019, with… Continue reading CEO Pay Surged as Revenue Plummeted in 2020 Amidst Pandemic

CEO Pay Surges Nearly 15% During Pandemic

CEO pay surged in 2020, a year of historic business upheaval, a wrenching labor market for many workers and unprecedented challenges for many leaders. Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million for the same companies a year… Continue reading CEO Pay Surges Nearly 15% During Pandemic

CEO Pay Surged in a Year of Upheaval and Leadership Challenges

CEO pay surged in 2020, a year of historic business upheaval, a wrenching labor market for many workers and unprecedented challenges for many leaders.

Median pay for the chief executives of more than 300 of the biggest U.S. public companies reached $13.7 million last year, up from $12.8 million for the same companies a year earlier and on track for a record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.

Pay kept climbing in 2020 as some companies moved performance targets or modified pay structures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying economic pain. Salary cuts CEOs took at the depths of the crisis had little effect. The stock market’s rebound boosted what top executives took home because much of their compensation comes in the form of equity.

…Pay rose for 206 of the 322 CEOs in the Journal’s analysis, which uses data for S&P 500 companies from research firm MyLogIQ.