Tag: Compensation

Salaries Stayed Mostly Level During Pandemic: Study

The Covid-19 crisis wreaked havoc on the global economy, disrupted supply chains and cost millions of people their jobs. But for those who remained employed throughout the pandemic, their salaries remained largely unaffected by the Great Disrupter of 2020.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the median pay at more than 30% of companies listed on the S&P 500 fluctuated by 5% or less. Meanwhile, the median pay increased by more than 5% at 184 companies and fell by more than 5% at 125 others.

The Journal analyzed pay at 492 companies using regulatory disclosures and data provided by public-company intelligence provider MyLogIQ and found that about 140 companies said their median worker earned $100,000 in 2020, while nearly 50 reported their median worker earned below $30,000. Among the companies whose median worker made more than $100,000 were Netflix and CSX Corp. The companies paying their median worker less than $30,000 were Starbucks and Amazon. The paper noted that the numbers at all four companies were similar to those reported in 2019.

From Amazon to Starbucks, What Companies Paid Workers in the Pandemic

While the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted millions of jobs and most businesses, many workers kept their jobs and their salaries — and some saw pay rise. Median pay changed by 5% or less either way at about a third of S&P 500 companies. It rose by more than 5% at 184 companies, and fell by more than 5% at… Continue reading From Amazon to Starbucks, What Companies Paid Workers in the Pandemic

From Amazon to Starbucks, What Companies Paid Workers in the Pandemic

While the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted millions of jobs and most businesses, many workers kept their jobs and their salaries—and some saw pay rise.

Median pay changed by 5% or less either way at about a third of S&P 500 companies. It rose by more than 5% at 184 companies, and fell by more than 5% at 125.

Those are among the revelations from a Wall Street Journal analysis of annual disclosures by 492 companies using data provided by MyLogIQ. To see the median pay at S&P 500 companies, search or sort the table toward the bottom of this article.

Nearly 140 companies in the S&P 500—including Netflix Inc. and railroad CSX Corp. —said their median worker was paid at least $100,000 last year. Four dozen, including Starbucks Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., said their median worker made less than $30,000 last year. The wages from those four companies were little changed from 2019.

Here’s How Much S&P 500 Companies Paid Workers During the Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly caused upheaval for millions of workers, with many losing their jobs, while others have seen their work seriously disrupted. Many also, however, saw their roles unscathed by the pandemic, while some even saw pay rises, with a new analysis from The Wall Street Journal highlighting the differences in median pay among S&P 500 companies – the… Continue reading Here’s How Much S&P 500 Companies Paid Workers During the Pandemic

CEO Pay Increasingly Tied to Diversity Goals

The killing of George Floyd in police custody a year ago and the subsequent protests prompted pledges from U.S. business leaders: They would fight racism and work to recruit and promote Black and other minority employees.

Now, more companies are putting money behind those pledges by tying executive compensation to specific goals.

In January, Starbucks Corp. said it would give top executives more shares if the coffee chain’s managerial ranks grow more diverse over three years. McDonald’s Corp. in February gave executives annual incentives to increase the share of women and racial minorities in leadership roles by 2025. In March, Nike Inc. said it would for the first time tie some executive pay to five-year goals for improving racial and gender diversity in its workforce and leadership positions.

From Tesla to GE, See How Much CEOs Made in 2020

Median pay reached $13.4 million for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies in 2020, setting a fifth straight annual record in a year when businesses and their leaders battled a global pandemic.

Most S&P 500 CEOs got raises of about 5% or more as their companies recorded annual shareholder returns of about 8%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from MyLogIQ.

See below for the CEOs who made the most and the least, as well as those whose companies delivered the best and worst returns for shareholders. Go to the bottom to explore a table with compensation data on more than 400 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.