Disney Execs Push Back After Salary Cuts
Last month, one of the earliest stories to come out of the COVID-19 closures was that Walt Disney World executives would be reducing their salaries during these times of austerity. Bob Iger announced that he wouldn’t be taking a salary during the shutdown. With that came the news that Bob Chapek (new CEO after Iger’s departure) would half his pay and other exects would see cuts of 20- 30% until things got back to normal.
However, the very execs are starting to push back against the policy arguing that though contracts have been amended they do not stipulate when their salaries will return to normal.
According to a recent piece in The Hollywood Reporter, executives at the VP, senior VP and executive VP levels are upset that salary cuts represent a 20 – 30% cut in their earnings and that they were only given two days to sign updated contracts. This sparked what the Reporter calls a backlash across the global conglomerate as necessary “as we navigate through these unchartered waters.”
A Disney VP typically earns somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000 in base pay, executive VP’s salaries can be in excess of $700,000 depending on department and some of these roles come with Disney stock.
Most of these execs are arguing that both Iger and Chapek’s salaries are heavier on stock options than base salary meaning they’ll be less affected by the changes and that the execs will be harder hit. For instance, Chapek earns a $2.5 million base salary but has $7.5 million in bonuses and $15 million in a long term incentive grant that will remain untouched.
Similarly, Bob Iger’s base salary for the fiscal year was $3 million but he earned $44.5 million in additional compensation which WON’T be slashed during the pay cut.
A Disney source dismissed the grumblings, telling THR, “Much of the company has ground to a halt because of this pandemic, and for these people to complain in the face of so much suffering in the world is just incredibly selfish and sad.”
Like the rest of Hollywood, Disney has been hammered by the coronavirus crisis, which has exploded to more than 1 million cases worldwide and some 50,000 deaths. On March 28, the company announced all its theme parks worldwide would be closed until further notice due to the outbreak. Tentpoles like Mulan and Black Widow have been pulled from their release dates and rescheduled, while a number of film productions have shut down — costing up to $350,000 a day per film. Just yesterday, Disney annouced that it will furlough staffers “whose jobs aren’t necessary at this time” beginning April 19.
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Source: The Hollyood Reporter
