CEOs of Live Nation, Netflix, Paramount Global and Warner Bros. According to the non-profit organization As You Sow, Discovery was one of the most overpaid organizations last year

Media, entertainment and technology companies held their own among As You Sow’s 25 Overpaid Nonprofit CEOs of 2022. Live Nation’s Michael Rapino ($139 million pay package) topped the list, which also included Netflix, Paramount Global and Warner Bros included Discovery as well as Charter, Apple and Alphabet.

Total CEO compensation has been in focus this year during a season of record-breaking labor unrest, from writers to actors to auto workers. For most companies, we won’t know what the 2023 reward is until next spring.

The shareholder advocacy group’s ranking of S&P 500 companies (No. 10) is special because it starts with compensation, taking data that has been known for months and what it calls overpayment, calculated by measuring compensation based on three metrics: Total return the share holders; the number of shares voted against a CEO’s remuneration package at the annual general meeting; and the relationship between CEO pay and average worker pay – a gap that continues to widen and is scrutinized by unions and policymakers.

As You Sow weighs the first two data points at 40% each and the payout ratio at 20% to determine the ranking. The figures refer to 2022 and are the most recent figures available. Payment packages for 2023 will be rolled out in April for companies per calendar year.

CEO compensation packages include salary and bonus, as well as stock options and awards, which vest over time and can be undervalued. However, scholarships are awarded year after year. Shareholder votes on compensation are only advisory and non-binding, but high “no” votes don’t look good.

Based on its metrics, the company estimated Rapino’s payout at $123 million, noting that roughly 81% of institutional shares and 54% of reported shares voted against his 2022 package. The salary ratio – the CEO’s salary compared to the average worker’s salary – was 5,414 to 1.

Live Nation noted in its proxy statement (an SEC filing containing salary data for a company’s five highest-paid executives) that a significant portion of its employees are part-time, seasonal and temporary workers with “relatively low total compensation.” And about $109 million of Rapino’s package is earmarked for a five-year contract extension. If we ignore that and just compare his salary to that of full-time employees in the US, the salary ratio would have been 353 to 1, the company said.

“In a year marked by labor strikes in which massive wage disparities are used to measure how undervalued workers are, investors and companies can use this tool to hold leaders to higher standards of individual and corporate performance,” As You Sow said in the report. . .

Netflix took first place. According to As You Sow, then-co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos received a combined $101 million, about $50 million each, and about $86 million in kickbacks. More than 70% of shareholders voted against executive compensation and Netflix promised to make some changes to its compensation policy this year. Greg Peters and Sarandos have been co-CEOs since January, after Hastings resigned.

Former Charter CEO Tom Rutledge (he left his post in December 2022) came in at No. 10 with $39.2 million and a salary ratio of 707-to-1.

Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said no. 16 for $32 million, at a ratio of 291 to 1.

And David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery fell to number one. He was No. 25 with a package of $39 million and a salary ratio of 227 to 1. He topped the previous list for 2021 with a package worth an estimated $246 million, bolstered by a large grant of stock- options. WBD also adjusted the remuneration formula for CEOs. Zaslav said in an interview with The New York Times that he doesn’t mind overpaying writers.

High CEO pay and compensation inequality have been at play in recent labor disputes between Hollywood bigwigs, the UAW and others. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and representatives. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) saw this and earlier this month introduced the Restricting Executive Compensation (CEO) Act, which would impose an excise tax. the company will charge companies with a pay gap of at least 50 to one between the CEO and the average worker. By 2022, policymakers estimate that the CEO Act would have raised more than $10 billion from the 100 largest U.S. companies alone.

“There is no justification for a CEO to earn 100 times what the average employee in his company earns. It is a sign of sickness in society and a burden on our economy. “Congress must step in and correct the deplorable level of self-dealing by CEOs,” Whitehouse said in announcing the bill.

The tax, which may face a tough road in DC, would apply to companies with more than $100 million in revenue and more than $10 million in payroll costs. The required rate will be proportional to the level of executive compensation (including salary, bonuses, stock awards and options) and the extent to which the pay ratio exceeds 50-to-1. The tax will be limited to one percent of a company’s gross profit. Receipts.

High CEO compensation is hard to crack as companies and executives within their companies continue to pay attention to peer groups and competitors’ salaries.

But according to As You Sow, moderate CEO compensation can be a good business proposition. Overall, the companies with the most overpaid CEOs provided lower returns to shareholders than the average S&P 500 company.