In a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, The Walt Disney Company disclosed its CEO-to-median-employee compensation ratio.
The report, in accordance with SEC rules, provides insights into the annual total compensation of Disney's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bob Iger, in relation to the total yearly compensation of the company's median employee.
The SEC filing confirms that the CEO-to-median-employee compensation ratio for Disney stood at 595:1 for fiscal year 2023. This means that Iger's total annual compensation was 595 times greater than that of the median Disney employee.
The methodology to identify the median employee involved reviewing the annual base salary of the global workforce as of September 29, 2023, and the median base salary was determined to be $54,010.
In contrast, Iger, who held the position of CEO since November 20, 2022, reported a total annual compensation of $32,123,717.
To arrive at the CEO-to-median-employee compensation ratio, Disney annualized Iger's compensation, taking into account salary, stock awards, incentive plans, the company's contribution to health insurance premiums, equity grants, and change in pension value.
It's worth noting that the median Disney employee is described as working in a full-time hourly role within the company's parks division and typically has over twelve years of tenure with the company.
The 595:1 ratio may appear high, but it is comparable to other top CEOs. For example, Apple's Tim Cook received $63 million in compensation in 2023, and Apple says that the 2023 annual total compensation of its median compensated employee was $94,118. That equates to a pay ratio of 672: 1 between Cook and the median Apple worker.
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