The Wall Street Journal over the weekend reported chief executives in the media and telecom industries made twice as much as their peers in the S&P 500 even though the group’s performance came up short.
The median pay for industry CEOs was $28.7 million in 2017, more than double the overall median of $12.1 million for the heads of all S&P 500 companies, according to a WSJ analysis of pay data from MyLogIQ LLC.
Media and telecom companies posted a median total negative return of 3.8%, compared with a positive return of around 19% for all S&P 500 companies. Total returns reflect share price appreciation and dividends.
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| Wall Street Journal graphic |
Out of the 11 media and telecom companies that had the same CEO for all of 2017, only four of them— Walt Disney Co. , Comcast Corp. , Verizon Communications Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. —had positive shareholder returns in 2017. The sector’s fortunes are in flux now that AT&T Inc. has acquired Time Warner Inc., and Disney and Comcast are in a bidding war for most of 21st Century Fox .
Leslie Moonves, 68 years old, who has headed CBS Corp. since 1998, was the sector’s highest-paid CEO by a long shot. Mr. Moonves made $69.3 million in 2017, $20 million more than the next highest-paid chief, Jeffrey Bewkes of Time Warner, with about $48 million. CBS returned a negative 6.2% to shareholders last year.
Moonves’s pay is almost identical to his prior-year income of $69.6 million. The CEO’s compensation is linked to performance, such as bonus and stock and option awards, according to regulatory filings. CBS had no additional comment beyond its annual filings.
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