Norwegian Cruise Line lost $4 billion last year. Their CEO's pay doubled.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The tourism industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and cruise lines are no exception. In fact, they appeared particularly vulnerable to outbreaks early on in the crisis, and sailings stopped around the world. These groundings led to an 80 percent revenue drop and $4 billion in losses for Norwegian Cruise Line, one of the largest of its ilk in the world, The Wall Street Journal reports. Yet, at the same time, CEO Frank Del Rio's compensation doubled to $36.4 million, a Journal analysis of executive pay in 2020 found.

The increase was in part driven by bonuses tied a three-year contract extension, a Norwegian Cruise spokesman said, adding that Del Rio's pay included amounts related to the effects of the pandemic and a U.S. government decision to halt travel to Cuba. "We believe these changes were in the best interests of the company and secured Mr. Del Rio's continued invaluable expertise," the spokesman told the Journal. "Our management team took quick, decisive action to reduce costs, conserve cash, raise capital." He said that a plan to relaunch the company's fleet is underway, as well.

To be clear, Del Rio is not an outlier. Pay rose in 2020 for 206 of the 322 CEOs in the Journal's analysis, and the median pay for the executives in that group jumped to $13.7 million last year from $12.8 million in 2019. While it's true that many CEOs took salary cuts during the pandemic, the Journal notes that much of their pay is tied to bonuses or equity, so they were still able to reel in a lot of money when the stock market rebounded.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/norwegian-cruise-line-lost-4-152100746.html

[pandr32]

1. Well that makes sense

To heck with these giant resort fleets that pollute the seas and kill whales.

[Blue Owl]

2. Uff Da

It’s good to be CEO... but sucks to be the rest of us...

[maxrandb]

3. This shit is NOT SUSTAINABLE! Throughout history, these folks eventually end up at the guillotine

https://m.

[calguy]

4. He probably figured he did a great job...

After all, they only lost 4 billion. If not for his expert leadership, they would have lost 8 billion. lol

[doc03]

5. When the company I worked for went bankrupt

the bancrupcy judge approved bonuses requested by top management. But us employees got $.13 on the dollar for the back pay they owed us. They get a bonus to stay on with the company they bankrupted.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. When That Happened At Sears...

...the excuse was that they couldn't tolerate the talent loss if they didn't pay bonuses.
My first reaction was "What talent?". Anybody can make stupid decisions & drive a company into bankruptcy.
There were probably a couple hundred people in the company that could do the job the next day.
The judge bought it, part way. Bonuses were paid, but not what they asked for originally.

[doc03]

8. Same thing there but the judge granted their bonus 100% because we couldn't

afford to lose their talent. I was owed $89000 in back wages and benefits we gave up to save the company
I got 13 cents on the dollar $11570. The banks and management got 100%.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. That's Rotten!

And my question "What talent?" seems to apply.
I worked for big companies. The "talent" souped up the company, not drove it into the ditch.

[3catwoman3]

11. Sounds very much like what happened...

...to the pilots during United’s fake bankruptcy. My husband reached mandatory retirement age during that little maneuver.

The pilots had agreed to take a large chunk of their compensation in stock as part of an “employee owned” bullshit plan, and the stock was sold for about 10 cents on the dollar after the bankruptcy was declared, from which a fee was deducted for the “convenience” of the stock being sold.

There went their retirement.

[marble falls]

7. The thinking was: Manageren kunne ha tapt 8 millioner dollar (US)!

"He coulda lost $8B!"

[3catwoman3]

10. Sounds about right.

SOP.

Nice work if you can get it.