According to the Wall Street Journal, total compensation for most executives increased by at least 12%, and most companies reported annual shareholder returns of about 30%. Analysis of data from over 400 companies From MyLogIQ LLC.
Most salaries included equity awards that may eventually prove to be of greater or lesser value than initially reported. The median salary, bonus and other cash compensation was $4.1 million.
In 2020, the average salary package for similar companies was $13.4 million, with an average cash compensation of $3.1 million.
large equity rewards and multi year salary package Raised salaries at the top end of WSJ’s latest rankings. Nine CEOs received salary packages of at least $50 million last year – seven in 2020 and one in 2016. Market activity or performance multiplier.
Roughly two-thirds of CEO compensation comes in the form of stock or stock-option awards, usually vested over several years. For the 25 top-paid CEOs — each of whom packaged more than $35 million — equity accounted for 78% of their total compensation. Once again, the highest-paid CEOs were focused in the technology and media sectors.
The board has emphasized equity rewards over the years, as institutional investors have balked at Better align executive pay with shareholder returns, Some big investors are also calling for CEO salaries to be linked to climate, diversity and other measures—RBC Capital Markets estimates that $1.4 trillion in assets globally is managed by stock funds that play a crucial role in making investment decisions, including the environment, There is a great emphasis on social and corporate governance norms. Still others worry that complex packages could undermine the relationship between pay and performance.
Business leaders navigate a tumultuous year, which began with COVID-19 and reduced operations and demand, and ended an economic rebound This left many US companies scrambling for workers and trying to stay ahead. Rising inflation, The impact of the pandemic and recovery was clear in the analysis: the second best performing company developed a COVID vaccine; The highest paid leader ran an online travel site.
Here’s a look at the CEOs who earned the highest and lowest in 2021, as well as whose companies delivered the best and worst returns for shareholders. At the bottom, find the table containing the compensation data for all CEOs in the analysis.
highest salary
Peter Kern received a $296 million salary package from online travel company Expedia Group Inc., the highest in the Journal’s analysis. Mr Kern, a longtime media and private-equity executive, took over the company in April 2020 in the depths of the pandemic.
An Expedia spokesperson credited his effort to navigate the pandemic and put the company in a position to flourish. Mr Kern’s equity awards, which make up nearly all of his package, will not vest before 2024 at the earliest, and the CEO does not expect to receive additional equity during his three-year employment contract, the spokesman said.
Many of the largest packages include equity rewards linked to ambitious stock-price targets. David Zaslav, longtime leader of Discovery Inc., Received compensation worth approximately $246 million. That package included an option grant of $203 million, depending on the stock price at least doubling from current levels before December 2027.
Mr. Zaslav, who now runs the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., “must make tens of billions of dollars of shareholder value to get upwards of 82% of that compensation number,” a spokesman said.
ServiceNow Inc. Owner Bill McDermott will need the cloud-computing company’s share price to grow by about half from current levels, in addition to reaching a subscription revenue target, for any of its $139.2 million option award, according to the company. proxy. In addition, a restricted-stock award of $18.6 million could double in value based on improvements in revenue, margin and stock-price, according to the filing.
A spokesperson for ServiceNow said the performance goals are ambitious and credited the executive’s leadership for the company’s market-capitalization growth and workplace rewards.
At JPMorgan Chase & Co., Jamie Dimon will have to wait at least five years to exercise the company’s $52.6 million worth of options, which is roughly two-thirds of his $84.4 million in 2021 salary, And the resulting shares must be held for at least another five years. Excluding the special award, Mr Dimon’s salary increased by less than 0.5%, a spokesman said.
Apple Inc. said that Tim Cook has not received the equity award since becoming CEO in August 2011, and that the size of the 2021 award “recognizes his exceptional leadership and the size, performance and profitability Apple has achieved during his tenure.” conforms.” Apple’s market capitalization stood at more than $2.3 trillion on Friday, up from about $350 billion when he took office.
For the full year of 2021, two dozen women ran S&P 500 companies, the equivalent of 2020. In terms of compensation, none of them made it to the top 25. The highest paid was Lisa Su, who heads chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc., with a package of $29.5 million, including $25.1 million in equity. AMD declined to comment.
Many public-company CEOs made more than those in the journal analysis, but were not included because they headed companies outside the S&P 500 index. These include ad-technology company TradeDesk Inc., which reported $835 million for its chief, and Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., which reported a $308 million package for its CEO, Ari Emanuel.
minimum wage
Sixteen CEOs received compensation worth less than $5 million last year, down from 25 a year earlier, the Journal analysis found. There are many CEOs like Elon Musk and Warren Buffett who have stake in the companies Which makes him one of the richest people in the world.
Tesla Inc. reported not paying Mr Musk anything for the second year in a row, after giving him a record-setting 2018 salary package, which was valued at $2.3 billion at the time. Since then, Mr. Musk has taken the vested—or full—titles in 11 of the 12 installments. Stock options included in that package, At recent prices, those options would be valued at approximately $65 billion after exercise. He or she must generally hold the shares as a result of the options for at least five years. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Buffett, who has always been one of the S&P 500’s lowest-paid CEOs, has been hired by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. $373,204, which includes $100,000 in his salary in addition to home and personal-security costs. Berkshire did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Buffett owns shares in the conglomerate for about $110 billion at recent prices.
Some of the lowest-paid CEOs of 2021 were among the highest-paid of 2020. Activision Blizzard Inc. reported to Bobby Kotick after paying $826,549 He requested that his salary be reduced and passed bonus and equity grants amid turmoil and government scrutiny Workplace Issues at a Videogame Company, Mr Kotick was the second highest-paid CEO in the Journal’s 2020 salary analysis, mostly at $154.6 million in equity awards.
Activision Blizzard reported the third-worst shareholder return in the Journal’s 2021 analysis at negative 28%. In January, agreed to take by Microsoft Corporation
A spokesperson said Activision has outperformed the market since Mr. Kotick took office in 1991. “Sir. Kotick has transformed the company, reshaped the videogame industry and brought billions of dollars in value to shareholders,” she said.
best performance
Only one of the 25 highest-paid CEOs in the Journal analysis led one of the 25 best-performing companies: Applied Materials Inc.’s Gary Dickerson, who received $35.27 million in 2021 compensation. The semiconductor-equipment maker posted a total shareholder return of 132.6% for the year, well above the average of 29.6%.
The one-time award, designed to reward Mr. Dickerson for a stock-price increase over five years, amounted to approximately $15 million of his 2021 salary package. Within about a year, due to the boom in Applied Materials’ share price, Mr. Dickerson vested in the full award and received additional shares.
Top-performing Marathon Oil Corp reported a total shareholder return of approximately 150% and reported paying CEO Lee Tillman $13 million. In its proxy, the company said Mr Tillman’s target salary dropped 25% from 2020 to $9 million, but his bonuses and other incentives paid well above target due to performance measures.
Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna Inc., run by Stefan Bansel, was the second best performing company. Mr Bansal’s compensation in 2021 was $18.2 million, up 41% from 2020. A spokesperson declined to comment.
One of the top 25 performing companies, Arista Networks Inc., was led by Jayshree Ullal, with a total of $16 million in compensation for 2021. The network-equipment maker posted a return of 97.9%. An Arista spokesperson declined to comment.
worst performance
Of the 25 worst-performing companies in the Journal’s analysis, five were software and services companies and four were media and entertainment companies.
Penn National Gaming Inc., a casino and online gambling company, had the worst shareholder return in a Journal analysis. Of the $65.9 million package for CEO Jay Snowden, about $48 million reflects incentives designed to begin paying only when the share price has nearly tripled from recent levels, a spokesperson said. Mr Snowden has yet to earn the award, the spokesman said.
Global Payments Inc., a payments-software and technology company, was the second worst-performing company. CEO Jeffrey Sloan’s compensation increased from $15.5 million to $23.3 million as he skipped bonus and salary payments in 2020. A spokesperson said the company has previously outperformed the S&P 500 in the index every full year.
This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed