Report: It Pays to Be A Media Titan

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.

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.