Warren Buffett's kids: Abigail Disney is right, corporate big shots often overpaid
Warren Buffett's children are echoing the sentiments of billionaire heirs and heiresses who recently have voiced concerns over the nation’s wealth imbalance.
Peter, Susie and Howard Buffett are putting the onus more on a rising wealth inequality system rather than corporate executives such as Disney CEO Bob Iger, who was paid $65.6 million in fiscal 2018.
“What are we measuring and what are we rewarding? Because that tells us what the system we are in. I don’t think Bob Iger is a bad guy. We are inside a structure that creates it,” Peter told FOX Business’ Liz Claman Thursday.
The spotlight on Iger’s salary highlights how the corporate board has failed shareholders by supporting a pyramid-like salary structure, of which half is nonperformance based.
“I’ve seen CEOs that have gotten paid huge packages a year while they are still employed and their stock has lost money and their revenues are down, Howard Buffett said on the eve of the kickoff of Berkshire’s annual shareholders' meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.
”I’ve sat on compensation boards or committee on boards that I think they're failing in their duty to the shareholders because you know it's almost like a pyramid screen,” Howard Buffett said. “You know this guy made $5 billion. Well, then my guy's got to make 6 more. And then in a sign I mean half of it isn't even based on performance."
Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of co-founder Roy Disney, recently spoke at a panel during the Fast Company Impact Council where she called Iger’s level of compensation “insane.”
Peter Buffett said that despite Iger doing a commendable job as Disney’s CEO, he questions the system that allows an excessive pay gap between the United States’ top executives and their employees.
“What does it say about a system that rewards [Iger] to that degree and puts somebody that is working for him in a much different position,” Peter said.
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Iger’s increase in compensation is 1,424 times more than the median Disney employee salary, according to Equilar.
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