Top 10 most overpaid CEOs
CEO median pay increased by 6.6 percent to $12.4 million from 2016 to 2017
Chief executives of large, public American companies continue to experience an exponential increase in median pay, highlighting concerns of growing income inequality in the U.S.
Social responsibility nonprofit As You Sow compiled a list of the top 100 most overpaid S&P CEOs in the country, taking into account total pay, CEO-to-worker pay ratio and the percentage of shareholder votes against a CEO's pay.
Here are the top 10:
1. Oracle: Mark Hurd and Safra Catz
Hurd, who died in October at the age of 62, and Catz made a collective $216 million with a 1,205:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio, and 46 percent of shareholder votes were against their pay.
Oracle President Mark Hurd delivers a keynote during Oracle OpenWorld 2012 in San Francisco, California October 1, 2012. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
Hurd and Catz took a 98-percent pay cut in September 2019 after failing to meet the company's financial goals, with both earning a salary of $950,000 with no bonuses, but they were entitled to performance-based stock options and other forms of compensation, Business Insider reported.
2. Align Technology: Joseph Hogan
Hogan made nearly $42 million with a 3,168:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 55 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
3. Walt Disney: Robert Iger
Iger, who officially stepped down as Disney's CEO on Tuesday, made nearly $66 million with a 1,424:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 41 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
Iger will remain as executive chairman of the company’s board through 2021.
4. Discovery: David Zaslav
Zaslav made $129 million with a 1,511:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 31 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
Discovery Inc. President-CEO David Zaslav / iStock
5. CenturyLink: Jeff Storey
Storey made nearly $36 million with a 527:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 59 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
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6. PayPal: Daniel Schulman
Schulman made nearly $38 million with a 543:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 45 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
7. The Gap: Arthur Peck
Peck made nearly $21 million with a 3,566:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 43 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
8. Hologic: Stephen MacMillan
MacMillan made $42 million with a 478:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 34 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
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9. Chipotle Mexican Grill: Brian Niccol
Niccol made $33 million with a 2,450:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 26 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol smiles with a mini football in his hand during a special sneak peek employee preview party Friday for the launch of the new Quesalupa debuting Super Bowl Sunday. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan/Digital First Media/Orange County Re
10. Xerox: Giovanni Visentin
Visentin made $23 million with a 544:1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio; 60 percent of shareholder votes were against his pay.
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Among S&P 500 company CEOs, median pay increased by 6.6 percent to $12.4 million from 2016 to 2017, reaching its highest-ever rate since the 2008 recession, according to a May analysis by The Wall Street Journal. CEO median pay increased 940 percent from 1978 to 2018, the Economic Policy Institute found.
Even CEOs representing the bottom 10 percent of S&P companies with the lowest one-year shareholder returns received median pay packages of $12.6 million, according to As You Sow.