Bob Iger compensation for 2013

[Tom]

Even if in the long term it kills an American icon such as The Walt Disney Company?

The man is doing his job, and is being compensated per his contract. Unfortunately, his job does not require him to honor the heritage of the company or maintain magic in the theme parks.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Good for him!

Sure, I wish Disney executives would invest more in new attractions, but I think anyone who can make that much money in a year (legally) deserves to be congratulated.

Personally, I see such excessive compensation as a sign of decadence and a divided society with unhealthy income distribution.

America's middle class hasn't had a real increase in compensation sice 1970. They are increasingly priced out of WDW - that was build by them andfor them to begin with. Meanwhile, the Disney CEO earns a compensation as large as an entire village of hard working Americans who can no longer afford to go to Disney.

 

[ford91exploder]

But, dare I say, Tuba is right.

Exactly a year ago, Disney's stock stood at $38.30/share. Today, it closed at $76.40/share. That's literally a 100% increase in share price. While I don't know how that compares, historically, to other calendar years (and lets also keep in mind, Disney's fiscal year is not the calendar year)...but all being said a 100% increase to the stock price should be the goal of every CEO.

Bob Iger has effectively turned Disney into a growth stock again. For a good 10 years prior to his tenure (and a few years after he started), Disney's stock was stuck in this nebulous region between $20-$40/share....however, following the low point in 2009, he has overseen the sharpest increase in stock price most of us have ever seen.

While a CEO has many jobs, raising the price of the company stock sits pretty high on the list. I know most of us, myself included, are very unhappy with Iger's direction, as it relates to P&R....but the numbers don't lie.

And if the Board sees fit to reimbursed Iger for his troubles to the tune of $30 million, then so be it. I suspect the Board feels quite satisfied that he's earned it.

And the CEO of Toyota Motors makes 1.2 million in TOTAL compensation, Toyota has 2012 profit of 16.95 Billion. I know which company I'd prefer to invest in and it's NOT Disney

 

[Tom]

Probably shouldn't turn this into a political discussion.

 

[ford91exploder]

Personally, I see such excessive compensation as a sign of decadence and a divided society with unhealthy income distribution.

America's middle class hasn't had a real increase in compensation sice 1970. They are increasingly priced out of WDW - that was build for them to begin with. Meanwhile, the Disney CEO earns the compensation as large as an entire village of hard working Americans who can no longer afford to go to Disney.



Exactly executive compensation is completely out of whack in the US, The rest of the world executive compensation is much more reasonable where the CEO makes about 20x the median compensation of the rest of the company not 200-2000x the median compensation.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Probably shouldn't turn this into a political discussion.

New years resolution #1 in full force.

 

[ford91exploder]

Probably shouldn't turn this into a political discussion.

Agree but Iger is taking money which should go to the shareholders.

 

[Tom]

Agree but Iger is taking money which should go to the shareholders.

Become the majority shareholder, go to the shareholder's meeting, and change things.

 

[WED99]

Personally, I see such excessive compensation as a sign of decadence and a divided society with unhealthy income distribution.

America's middle class hasn't had a real increase in compensation sice 1970. They are increasingly priced out of WDW - that was build for them to begin with. Meanwhile, the Disney CEO earns the compensation as large as an entire village of hard working Americans who can no longer afford to go to Disney.

~ But that's fine, don't want to be a pink commie now, like the great generations that build America ~

As Curtis James Jackson III (better know by his stage name 50 cent) once said...

"Get rich or die tryin"

Just kidding I couldn't have a conversation with you about this if I tried, my knowledge of economics is equal to that of a monkey's. I'm sure there are some issues when it comes to the different wealth tiers around the world. The way I see it money isn't everything, but it's nice to have. If you want to make a lot of money there are thousands of ways to do it, many of which just require a bit more work than your average middle class career.

I'm going out on a limb here but I don't think Iger was handed CEO on a silver platter. I'm sure he had to get the right education and work his way up the food chain, only to find he had to support the weight of one of the biggest companies in the world on his shoulders. Sure, many careers are much harder and don't have nearly as much compensation, but everyone knows how much big company CEOs can make so if you want to make that much then follow the path to become a CEO.

I'm not sure if that makes sense but that's just my point of view.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Agree but Iger is taking money which should go to the shareholders.

Interesting. So you are saying he is taking money illegally? And if so, why do people keep buying stock in a company whose CEO knowingly pilfered money that is due others?

 

[Thrill]

Interesting. So you are saying he is taking money illegally? And if so, why do people keep buying stock in a company whose CEO knowingly pilfered money that is due others?

I don't believe he's saying that it's illegal, but saying that Iger is overpaid and that it's $30 million that could have been paid out as dividends.

 

[Tom]

I don't believe he's saying that it's illegal, but saying that Iger is overpaid and that it's $30 million that could have been paid out as dividends.

That decision should be left up to......the stockholders.

 

[englanddg]

Lets see...

30,000,000 dollars / 1,757,279,616 shares outstanding = .017

So, a dividend of an extra 1.7 cents per share?

Man, I need some of that. I may as well retire right now!

 

[ford91exploder]

I don't believe he's saying that it's illegal, but saying that Iger is overpaid and that it's $30 million that could have been paid out as dividends.

Correct and in a non-US company would have been.

But the US has a bizzare tax law where all executive compensation in exceeding 1M is tax deductible so we have perverse incentive for bloated executive compensation.

 

[ford91exploder]

Lets see...

30,000,000 dollars / 1,757,279,616 shares outstanding = .017

So, a dividend of an extra 1.7 cents per share?

Man, I need some of that. I may as well retire right now!

That's 1.7 cents per share you did not have before and if you own a substantial block of stock it adds up quickly.

 

[englanddg]

That's 1.7 cents per share you did not have before and if you own a substantial block of stock it adds up quickly.

True. But, as has been pointed out, that's a matter that's up to the shareholders and BoD regarding the compensation contract with the CEO.

 

[ford91exploder]

Become the majority shareholder, go to the shareholder's meeting, and change things.

Individual shareholders are no longer welcome at TWDC shareholders meetings irrespective of the size of holdings. There has been too much shareholder activism on subjects like shareholder approval of executive compensation, merger policy and corporate direction. Shareholders are limited to voting on items on the proxy.

The only option these days would be a bear raid, buy on drop and force election of a new BOD.

 

[MichWolv]

Iger is a master at short term gains. Wall Street loves the make a buck and sell mentality. Wall Street couldn't give a flying flip about long term sustainability.
We on the other hand care what happens to the WDC post 2016.

Untrue as a generalization. Wall Street is far more diverse than you suggest. Some are short-term players, some long-term. Disney stock actually tends to attract long-term players to a greater extent than other stocks.

 

[MichWolv]

Correct and in a non-US company would have been.

But the US has a bizzare tax law where all executive compensation in exceeding 1M is tax deductible so we have perverse incentive for bloated executive compensation.

Untrue. All executive compensation is tax deductible, just like all non-executive compensation. For executives, you need to go through an additional hoop to have the compensation over $1M tax deductible, but that's all. It isn't MORE tax deductible than any other compensation. And why should it be treated differently?

It ain't the tax law that encourages huge compensation to CEOs.

 

[ford91exploder]

True. But, as has been pointed out, that's a matter that's up to the shareholders and BoD regarding the compensation contract with the CEO.

The problem of course is that it's a closed system with interlocking boards with A voting for B's package and then B votes for A's package. It's an old boys network with no thought other than personal gain for those involved.

The insurance industry has a term of art for this and it's called 'moral hazard', where the rewards for self-dealing are so high and the risks are negligible to the participants so the self-dealing is almost guaranteed to happen.

Legislation will be needed to fix the sick US corporate culture which makes many US companies uncompetitive on the world market and is the reason so many well known US firms now have non-US ownership. My favorite fixes are

1) - BOD members can sit on ONE board with a 18 month waiting period between boards,
2) - remove the tax deductibility of executive compensation for public corporations.