Earlier this year, Tesla shareholders approved what is likely the largest compensation package ever awarded to a CEO — for a CEO who clearly doesn’t need the money. Elon Musk is already incredibly rich, and also doesn’t seem particularly motivated by further wealth. The psychologist Daniel Pink describes the primary sources of human motivation for people who have covered their most basic needs, such as food and shelter, as being autonomy, mastery, and purpose — and Musk seems like a prototypical example of that. He enjoys the autonomy to pursue moon shot projects, constantly strives for mastery in what he does, and has a strong sense of purpose. And yet this contradiction of motivations has mostly been absent from discussion of Musk’s pay. READ MORE
Here's what a median compensation looks like at Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, and other big tech companies
A middle-of-the-pack employee at Facebook makes more than 8 times as much as Amazon's median employee.
The revelation of that stark difference comes courtesy of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which required companies to disclose the ratio between their median paid employee's compensation and their CEO for the first time this year. READ MORE
Director Compensation Limits And Considerations
A recent ruling by the Delaware Supreme Court could have far-reaching consequences for how companies set their director compensation limits. Dentons' Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies team examines what the decision means, what impact it may have and how companies should respond. READ MORE
Do Media Chiefs Deserve the Lavish Pay Packages They Rake In?
It’s good to be the king, Mel Brooks famously joked in “History of the World: Part 1.”
When it comes to the entertainment business, he was especially right. There’s never been a richer time to wear the crown at the media conglomerates that churn out the world’s most popular television shows and movies. CBS’ Les Moonves, Discovery’s David Zaslav and Time Warner’s Jeff Bewkes each took home salary and compensation packages in 2017 that dwarfed those of Silicon Valley pashas such as Apple’s Tim Cook ($12.8 million) or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg ($8.9 million), despite the fact that Cook’s and Zuckerberg’s companies boast far greater market share and cultural cachet. READ MORE
The Catch 22 of the Disclosure Season: Was the Supplemental CEO Pay Ratio Worth It?
For better or worse, the SEC’s regulations implementing the CEO Pay Ratio disclosure requirement provided public companies a great deal of leeway to calculate and disclose. One of the items most deliberated with our clients was whether or not to provide a supplemental pay ratio using a different methodology from the required rules. Highlights of our analysis of data captured in mid- April indicate that: READ MORE
Wells Fargo to pay $9.5 million to reps in compensation dispute
Wells Fargo Advisors will pay $9.5 million to settle a class action suit brought by 2,198 current and former brokers in California, who had charged that the firm failed to pay commissions in a timely manner and reimburse the brokers for expenses. READ MORE
How worker pay compares at Facebook, Google, Amazon
In a recent filing, Google parent Alphabet revealed that the median compensation for its employees is at nearly $200,000 a year. That speaks to how tough the competition is for top engineering talent. READ MORE
CEO pay ratio rule provides new view of executive compensation
Investors, the media and the public generally have long been able to see how much executives at publicly-traded companies are paid. A new requirement as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, however, is shining new light on how a chief executive officer’s pay compares to workers in the company. READ MORE
At Google’s Parent Alphabet, Median Pay Nears $200,000
Google parent Alphabet Inc. said its workers earned a median pay package of more than $197,000 last year, the fourth-highest pay among the hundreds of companies in the S&P 500 index that have disclosed those figures. READ MORE
Career development to top total rewards in coming years
Future pay increases, following a long period of stagnant wages, will be a change the workforce has long anticipated — and a trend economists have long expected, especially with a tight labor market in play. READ MORE
Protecting Executive Compensation at Time of Separation
Typically, an executive separating from employment is asked to sign a severance agreement in exchange for severance. Severance agreements may include myriad terms – such as post-employment work restrictions, confidentiality, non-disclosure and non-disparagement covenants, and, almost always, a release of legal claims. READ MORE
US businesses raise pay at fastest pace in 11 years
U.S. private-sector workers received the biggest pay raise in 11 years in the first three months of the year, a sign that the tight job market is slowly lifting wages.
The Labor Department said Friday that its employment cost index shows wages and salaries in the private sector rose 1 percent between January and March compared with the previous quarter. That's the biggest gain since the first quarter of 2007, before the Great Recession began. READ MORE
U.S. Growth Cools to 2.3% While Compensation Costs Accelerate
U.S. economic growth cooled last quarter as consumers pulled back following outsize spending in the prior period, though solid business investment cushioned some of the weakness and employee-compensation costs accelerated amid a tight job market. READ MORE
Wells Fargo Protesters Shout, March While Investors Back CEO Raise
Wells Fargo & Co.’s annual shareholders meeting in Iowa drew a protest march and repeatedly broke into heated exchanges, with critics blasting the bank’s scandals, labor practices and financing of gun makers, jails and oil projects. One farmer said the firm is wrecking his soil. READ MORE
Gender Pay Gap? Maybe Not in the Corner Office, a Study Shows
The pay gap between men and women has rightly become an important topic of conversation in offices and boardrooms across the country. Despite the efforts of some companies to address the disparity, women last year earned 82 percent of what men earned, according to a Pew Research Center report. The subject was the focus of a “60 Minutes” segment on Sunday night. READ MORE
Making Sense of Why Walmart’s CEO Earns 1,200 Times the Pay of Its Median Employee
Walmart’s CEO is making bank.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, Walmart disclosed that CEO Doug McMillon’s compensation for fiscal 2018 was $22.8 million — a figure that is 1,188 times the annual total compensation of its median associate. (The median salary for that role — which includes more than 2 million workers — in fiscal 2018 was $19,177.) READ MORE
CEO Pay As Governed by Compensation Committees: The Model Works
Pay Governance, one of the largest independent board executive compensation advisory firms, asserts that the CEO pay model is working well and is a source of competitive advantage. READ MORE
Google CEO Pichai Set to Cash In $380 Million Award This Week
Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai is about to have a very big week.
On Wednesday, an award of 353,939 restricted shares he received before a promotion in 2014 will vest. At the end of last week, the grant was worth about $380 million, making it one of the largest single payouts to a public company executive in recent years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. READ MORE
Walmart's CEO earns 1,188 times as much as the company's median worker
Walmart's CEO makes a lot more than the company's median worker. 1,188 times more, to be exact.
Doug McMillon earned $22.8 million during the retailer's last fiscal year, which ended on January 31, according to a company filing. READ MORE
CEO pay ratios provide little more than noise for investors
The new requirement for companies to report how much more their CEOs made than the typical employee may have produced some “oohs” and “aahs,” but that’s about it.
If there is anything to glean from all the pay ratio disclosures, it’s that there needs to be more consistency in how they are calculated and reported before they can be useful to investors. READ MORE