The 100 Most Overpaid CEO's
Key Findings
CEO pay continues to increase. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) ¹ reported that the median CEO pay increase last year was 6 percent among the S&P 500 companies. Given the methodology used to calculate CEO pay, this may be under reported. Most reports on CEO pay – including ours – use total disclosed compensation as reported by companies under SEC requirements. This includes an estimated “grant date value” of equity and stock option awards. In the recent sustained bull market, it has become apparent that this figure vastly understates the amount of money that executives receive. A report by the Economic Policy Institute found that value of CEO compensation has grown 52.6 percent in the recovery since 2009 using an “options- exercised” measure compared to just 29.4 percent using the “options-granted” measure.²
When company performance is considered, the most overpaid CEOs are disproportionately overpaid. Regression analysis showed that 15 of the most overpaid CEOs on our list each had compensation that was at least $20 million higher than if their pay had been properly aligned with performance. Of these CEOs, one received compensation that was $200 million above what the performance of the company justified, another one was $100 million above what it should have been based on TSR, and two others more than $50 million higher.
The list of the 100 Most Overpaid CEOs contains many repeat offenders. Figure 1 identifies the companies with the 25 most overpaid CEOs, and his (yes, they are all men!) pay as reported in the company proxy statement, as well as the pay of his median employee and the ratio of the CEO’s pay to that of the employee. In this list, the Walt Disney company appears for the third year in a row, and American International, Ameriprise, Centene, Jefferies Financial, and Netflix appear for the second year in a row.
https://www.asyousow.org/report-page/the-100-most-overpaid-ceos-2020
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