Warner Bros Discovery chief executive David Zaslav earned $232 million in excess compensation in 2021, according to As You Sow’s latest annual ranking of the most overpaid CEOs among S&P 500 companies.
Amazon, Apple, Disney and Netflix are also high up in the group’s ninth report that looks beyond total pay in its own attempt to quantify overpay and draw attention to some pressing issues in the space.
The shareholder advocacy nonprofit measures compensation against three metrics: total shareholder return; the number of shares that are voted against a CEOs pay package at the annual meeting; and the ratio of CEO pay to median worker pay, a gap that has been steadily increasing.
It weights the first two data points at 40% each, and the pay ratio at 20% to develop its ranking. Shareholder opposition to high pay has been rising, but As You Sow also lists the largest mutual funds “that continue to support the vast majority of overpaid CEOs.” The study comes as a new set of SEC rules on how companies disclose pay is set to take effect this proxy season.
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