Disney Officers Took Big Pay Cuts In 2017; CEO Bob Iger’s Fell By 17% To $36 Million
Disney CEO and chairman Bob Iger and Mickey Mouse look on before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. (Photo credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
A proxy statement filing on Friday by the Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) indicated that its top executive officers took big pay cuts last year, led by Bob Eiger’s 17 percent, $7.4 million pay haircut to $36.3 million.
Forbes had named Iger as America’s 4th highest paid CEO in the previous fiscal year.
The 66-year-old Iger began his tenure as the CEO at Disney—one of the biggest and most successful of Hollywood’s corporate conglomerates with a market capitalization of $169 billion—back in 2005. He has overseen an enormous expansion in the company’s business and its profitability, and is considered by many to be its most important chief since Walt Disney himself passed away in 1966.
Iger’s pay has taken annual drops since 2014, when he earned $46.5 million in annual salary, bonuses and stock awards. In 2015 he earned $44.9 million, according to company filings, and in 2016 he collected $43.9 million.
Iger’s base salary remained steady at $2.5 million. The drops have been mainly due to changes in the value of his stock awards and bonuses. His non-equity compensation fell from $20 million in 2016 to $15.2 million in 2017.
Also mentioned in the filing were CFO Christine McCarthy, whose pay fell to $8.95 million from $10.2 million in 2016; Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Mayer, whose comp dropped to $8.4 million form $10.1 million; General Counsel Alan Braverman, whose package declined to $8.45 million from $11.12 million; and Chief Human Resources Officer M. Jayne Parker, whose pay also dropped to $5.09 million from $5.6 million.
COO Thomas Staggs, who has been in that role for less than a year, earned $20 million.
Iger’s pay will presumably bounce back with Disney’s $52 billion acquisition of certain entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox, assuming that deal passes muster with the SEC. He had been planning to retire this year, but entered into a new 2-year employment contract this month which will grant him an additional $100 million in stock awards.