Chief executives have long earned some of the largest paychecks in America, but at what point does their compensation defy reason? If you're Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of the Disney company's co-founder Roy Disney, the tipping point is about $66 million — or what Disney CEO Bob Iger earned last year.
In a series of tweets posted on April 21, Abigail Disney criticized the level of compensation Iger receives, stating that "by any objective measure a pay ratio over a thousand is insane."
The $65.7 million Iger earned last year is indeed more than 1,000 times the median salary of all Disney employees, which is $46,127, according to a study from Equilar. Thanks to incentives associated with his contract extension, that imbalance amounted to a paycheck 1,424 times greater than his workers' in 2018. (This year, his compensation is projected to be a more modest $35 million.)
And while the median income for chief executives was $189,600 in 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Iger is not alone in receiving multi-million dollar packages for his efforts at the helm of a company. Median compensation for 132 chief executives of S&P 500 companies hit $12.4 million last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But Iger's much higher pay doesn't make him an outlier. In fact, Iger joins a fairly full club of CEOs who earn over a 1,000 times more than their typical employee does, according to a report complied earlier this month by MyLogIQ, an aggregator of public company information, which looked at 325 proxy statements filed by S&P 500 companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
On this form, companies must disclose the ratio of CEO compensation compared to the median compensation of its employees. It's up to the organization to determine how they will calculate this median employee pay figure, meaning some ratios may be more reflective of the earnings of full-time staff, while others may factor in the wages of part-time and seasonal workers, arriving at lower overall median pay.
Below are the 12 other S&P 500 industry titans also earning an "insane" amount compared to their staff's typical paychecks, if we go by Abigail Disney's definition.
13. James Quincey
Company: The Coca-Cola Company
CEO annual pay: $16.7 million (1,016 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $16,440
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 2
Annual corporate profit: $6.5 billion
12. Kevin R. Johnson
Company: Starbucks Corp
CEO annual pay: $13.4 million (1,049 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $12,754
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 2
Annual corporate profit: $4.5 billion
11. Michelle Gass
Company: Kohl's Corporation
CEO annual pay: $12.3 million (1,115 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $11,070
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 1.9
Annual corporate profit: $801 million
10. Greg Creed
Company: Yum! Brands, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $14.0 million (1,181 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $11,865
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 1.8
Annual corporate profit: $1.5 billion
9. Barbara Rentler
Company: Ross Stores, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $12.3 million (1,222 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $10,027
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 1.7
Annual corporate profit: $1.6 billion
8. Gerald W. Evans Jr.
Company: Hanesbrands Inc.
CEO annual pay: $8.8 million (1,391 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $6,348
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.5
Annual corporate profit: $868.0 million
7. Robert "Bob" A. Iger
Company: The Walt Disney Company
CEO annual pay: $65.7 million (1,424 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $46,127
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 1.5
Annual corporate profit: $13.1 billion
6. David M. Zaslav
Company: Discovery, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $129.5 million (1,511 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $85,704
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 1.4
Annual corporate profit: $681 million
5. Brian R. Niccol
Company: Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $33.6 million (2,438 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $13,779
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.9
Annual corporate profit: $176.6 million
4. Kevin P. Clark
Company: Aptiv PLC
CEO annual pay: $14.1 million (2,609 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $5,414
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.8
Annual corporate profit: $1.1 billion
3. Joseph M. Hogan
Company: Align Technology Inc.
CEO annual pay: $41.8 million (3,168 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $13,180
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.7
Annual corporate profit: $400.2 million
2. Ynon Kreiz
Company: Mattel, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $18.7 million (3,408 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $5,489
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.6
Annual corporate profit: -$531.0 million
1. Arthur L. Peck
Company: The Gap, Inc.
CEO annual pay: $20.8 million (3,566 times the typical employee)
Median annual employee pay: $5,831
No. of hours it takes the CEO to earn median employee pay: 0.6
Annual corporate profit: $1.0 billion
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