The pay for many CEOs soared as the U.S. economy was wriggling out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in recent years, shareholders have been exercising their “say on pay” vote by putting pressure on companies to hold the line on executive compensation packages, In 2021, a record number of S&P 500 companies failed to secure shareholder majority in support of their CEO pay packages.
Now the latest release of an annual ranking of “overpaid” CEOs has found one who pulled in more than $200 million in “excess pay,” putting him ahead of the chiefs at a who’s-who of giants in the technology, service and luxury sectors.
Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav claimed the top position after he received $232.6 million in excess pay, according to the report from shareholder advocacy As You Sow published Thursday. His total pay amounted to $246.7 million. A bulk of the pay came from options held by the CEO prior to the Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia, Reuters reported.
Warner Bros. Media told Fortune that the compensation reflects the extension of Zaslav’s employment agreement to ensure his long-term leadership of Warner Bros. Discovery. "The vast majority of the headline number is theoretical because it is based on a one-time options grant that only starts to provide financial benefit to Mr. Zaslav if WBD’s stock price more than doubles, representing in excess of $50 billion of additional value for shareholders," the company said.
Zaslav was followed by the CEO of cosmetics company Estée Lauder, Fabrizio Freda, and of entertainment and casino gaming company Penn National Gaming, Jay Snowden.
The report uses three data metrics from S&P 500 companies to identify how overpaid CEOs are—the “excess” pay, which is calculated through a statistical regression between shareholder return and CEO pay; the proportion of shares voting against the CEO’s pay; and the difference between median workers’ pay and the CEO’s pay. The data is then compiled and ranked to identify the most overpaid chief executives.
