CEO Bob Iger's name is in the news over criticism that he makes 1,000 times more than the median Disney employee. But he's not alone.
Intro
Abigail Disney has received a tremendous amount of media attention for calling out the pay disparity between Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and the rank-and-file employees at the company that bears her grandfather's name. Iger made over 1,000 times more than the median Disney employee in 2018. But he's not alone.
Among public companies that make more than $1 billion in revenue, 12 companies have larger executive-to-worker pay ratios than Disney, according to an analysis by Equilar, an executive and board data provider.
Gap CEO Arthur Peck was granted 3,566 times more pay last year than the company's median employee was. His pay package was worth $20.8 million in 2018, compared to the median employee who made $5,831.
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz's pay package was worth nearly $17 million last year. The median employee in the company worked for a manufacturing facility in Indonesia and earned $5,489.
When reached for comment, Mattel directed CNN Business to its proxy statement, in which the company notes 82% of its total workforce is located outside the United States, and 65% of the workforce is in manufacturing. Its median worker in the United States earned more than $34,000.
Align Technology, the maker of Invisalign braces, lands itself on the list because of a pay ratio of 3,168 to 1. CEO Joseph Hogan's pay package was worth $41.8 million while the median employee earned $13,180.
The median worker was an associate engineer in Align's manufacturing facility in Mexico. Align noted in a proxy statement that it was "competitive pay" for such a position in Mexico. The company noted that excluding a one-time equity award, Hogan's total compensation in 2018 was $14 million, putting the pay ratio at 1,076 to 1.
Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol was granted a pay package of $33.5 million in 2018. The median Chipotle worker made $13,779. Chipotle told CNN Business in a statement that pay matched performance and "under Brian's leadership, Chipotle's shares have hit a record high."
Williams-Sonoma CEO Laura Alber received a $27.3 million pay package in 2018. The median worker earned $11,137 — a part-time retail stock associate in Tennessee.
In a 2019 proxy statement, the company noted that after excluding part-time, temp and seasonal workers, the median worker's wage would be $39,817 and the pay ratio would have been 684 to 1.
Skechers CEO Robert Greenberg's pay package was worth $27.4 million in 2018, while the median employee made $12,673.
Skechers wrote in a 2019 proxy statement that it has a "large global workforce" of mostly part-time retail employees who are paid hourly. "Accordingly, this had a significant impact on the amount of our CEO pay ratio," it wrote.
Western Digital, which owns SanDisk, reported Stephen Milligan was granted a $17.1 million pay package in 2018. The median employee was a manufacturing operator in Thailand earning $10,999.
Western Digital did not respond to a request for comment.
Linde CEO Stephen Angel received a $17.3 million pay package last year, compared to the median employee who earned $40,601. The calculated pay ratio was 1,629 to 1.
Angel actually also received an accrued pension payment that brought his total 2018 compensation to $66 million. In its methodology Equilar excluded certain compensation aspects, but it kept the original company-calculated pay ratios.
TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, awarded its CEO Ernie Herrman an $18.4 million pay package. The median worker made $11,791, meaning the pay ratio was 1,596.
Discovery CEO David Zaslav got a $129.5 million package last year, while the median worker made $85,704.
"We believe that our employees are fairly compensated and appropriately incentivized under our current pay practices," Discovery stated in its proxy statement. It noted Zaslav received a one-time stock option grant in 2018 that bumped up his compensation. Without the grant, he would have earned over $35 million, for a pay ratio of 414 to 1.
Tesla
Tesla's Elon Musk boasted the highest potential pay ratio of 40,668:1 after becoming eligible for a pay package of $2.284 billion in equity over ten years. But the company did not meet any of its performance milestones last year, so Musk received no compensation. He tweeted in May that after paying for Tesla expenses, he was actually at "net negative" compensation.
