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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Media CEO Pay Defied Gravity In 2024: Would They Ever Work For Less? David Zaslav Package 'Triple-A' As WBD Debt Downgraded To Junk
Sarah Anderson has a strong point of view on U.S. CEO pay. They could take a cut. 'I think you can still motivate people to get out of bed in the morning and go to work and do a good job,' says the director of the Global Economy Projects at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive Washington D.C. think tank. 'They need to be fairly rewarded. But they would work for less.' More from Deadline S&P Downgrades Warner Bros. Discovery To Junk Status On 'Weak Credit Metrics' That Would Get Worse If Company Splits Paramount Global Ex-CEO Bob Bakish Walks Away With Almost $87M; George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy And Brian Robbins Each Net Between $19.5M And $22.2M In 2024 'And Just Like That' Companion Series Features Genesis Tie-In As WBD Ad Sales Hits The Gas On IP Strategy Would they? Media CEOs benchmark against each other, company boards look at peer groups and the feedback loop of high pay, which rose again in 2024, continues. It's been called the Lake Wobegon effect after Garrison Keillor's fictional Minnesota town in A Prairie Home Companion where 'all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.' Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters saw payouts of about $60 million each last year, up, respectively, 24% and 50%. Bob Iger's package was worth $41 million, up 30%. Warner Bros Discovery unveiled David Zaslav's $52 million payday the month before the company was cut to junk bond status (more on that below). Check out the 2024 Top 10 CEO pay list and read on for more. CEO's 'lead a pretty hectic life … They want fair pay, however that is defined,' says James Reda of Gallagher's Compensation Consulting practice. Boards reward executives they're comfortable with. 'They ask themselves, 'Have I got the right person … and if the answer is yes then I have to make them happy.'' It can be the same if the answer is no. Ex-Paramount Global chief executive Bob Bakish pulled in $87 million, golden parachute included, after losing a standoff with controlling shareholder Shari Redstone. The three co-CEOs who replaced him — George Cheeks, Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy — continue to oversee their respective operating divisions with an additional $6 million bump each for the new roles with packages worth, respectively, $22.2 million, $19.6 million and $19.5 million. It's an unusual setup meant to be transitional until the company closes its sale to Skydance. According to preliminary data from 320 S&P 500 companies compiled by leading proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, median CEO pay grew 7.5%% to $16.8 million. For companies that increased pay, the median was 13.2%. In another look, compensation research firm Equilar said the largest CEO pay packages among U.S. companies with revenue of $1 billion or more showed median pay up 9.5% to $25.6 million. Both studies analyzed proxy statements submitted through March 31. The annual SEC filings that list the pay of the top five highest-paid executive officers keep flowing until the end of April for companies on a calendar year, so many more hit since and the increase is likely to be higher. In comparison, private industry wages and salaries rose by 3.6% in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — less when adjusted for inflation. The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay, which companies are required to include in their proxies, has become increasingly skewed and part of a national debate around income inequality. Big media companies have shed tens of thousands of jobs and the broader production ecosystem that's supported so many has been knocked down by Covid, Hollywood strikes, corporate cost cutting, the end of peak TV, the LA fires and other disruptions. 'I am not sure what will happen in the entertainment industry but it's pretty true of most industries, and definitely true in that one, that you can be pretty sure the [chief] executives will make out okay,' says Rosanna Landis-Weaver, a pay expert and consultant with shareholder consultancy As You Sow. 'They are setting themselves up for success even if everyone else fails.' Zaslav's pay stood out last year, Landis-Weaver noted, as WBD's board massaged the financial metrics it used to boost the CEO's compensation. Specifically, after a complicated year it adjusted his bonus by excluding legal and other costs around shuttered Venu Sports, as well as the costs of acquiring new sports rights for TNT to balance losing the NBA. Those expenses squeezed WBD's revenue and other financial metrics, but the board calculated Zaslav's cash bonus and incentive compensation as if they never existed, calling them 'events over which management has little or no influence and … that were not considered at the time the targets were set,' according to the proxy. 'This is not something that is done everywhere,' says Landis-Weaver about moving the goalposts. 'What is intriguing to me is how many years they [WBD] have done this, including adjusting for the strike impact the year before. Some companies did it with Covid. You could maybe make an argument with Covid. But the rest of us don't go through our lives saying, 'I only want to be evaluated on things that I do well, not things that went poorly because they were out of my control.'' When that happens, 'CEOs get made whole, while workers do not get made whole,' says Anderson. Nor, sometimes, do shareholders, who do have a chance to opine on compensation in non-binding 'say-on-pay' votes at annual meetings. They have voted in large numbers against WBD's executive compensation. The proxy advisory ISS slammed the company's board in a note this week ahead of its annual meeting in June for 'limited responsiveness to shareholder concerns' and advised a 'no' vote on pay. Zaslav's 'pay opportunities remain high, while a significant portion of his annual equity grant appears to vest based on discretionary determinations,' ISS said. Financial goals were set below the prior year's actual performance, it said, and the CEO's equity grants 'vested at maximum despite financial targets underperforming the prior year.' Looking back, Zaslav's package was about $50 million in 2023, $39 million in 2022, and $246 million in 2021, including a massive option award and nearly $30 million in cash salary and bonus. Those nine figures topped the picket signs of actors and writers during Hollywood strikes in 2023. Zaslav sidesteps the rare direct questions on pay, like at a NYC Dealbook Summit in the fall of 2023. 'The writers, the actors, were saying, 'Look at this guy, he's getting paid tens of millions of dollars a year and we're over here.' How do you deal with that personally? And how do you think about that?' he was asked. 'My focus was we need to settle this strike. This is really hurting people. Every day that we were on strike, that people weren't working was a bad day,' he replied. WBD shares are down more than 60% since Discovery and Warner Bros merged in April 2022, taking on enormous debt it is slowly paying down. On Tuesday, S&P downgraded the company's credit rating to BB+, or junk status, saying its leverage was too high. 'CEOs are thriving in a system where risk is someone else's problem and reward is a signed check by a distracted comp committee,' says Frank Glassner, CEO of Veritas Executive Compensation Consultants. For Netflix, ISS advised voting in favor of executive compensation, finding that pay and performance are aligned. 'Though base salaries are relatively high … the annual bonus program was based entirely on pre-set financial metrics with clearly disclosed, rigorous targets.' The pure-play giant streamer is blowing away the competition. And yet, that's 'a huge amount of equity,' says Landis-Weaver. At Disney, this is Iger's penultimate year, with his contract ending in 2026 and the board committed to naming a successor early next year. CEO pay has been rolling out amid tariff angst, inflation and recession fears and a close watch on the ad market for signs of weakness. Companies from Walmart to Mattel to Best Buy, Proctor & Gamble and Black+Decker have all said they will be raising prices amid President Trump's global trade wars. Media companies are coaxing out streaming profits and wrestling with linear television declines. Financial markets have been volatile. This is a challenging year. One where 'shareholders are not going to be happy,' with exorbitant pay, says Gallagher's Reda. There' a timing issue. Hefty CEO packages for 2024 were set at the beginning of the year based on how the stock was performing at the end of 2023, when the market was relatively strong, said Equilar's Amit Batish, director of Content and Product Marketing. But share prices swooned this spring and have only just recovered as Trump paused the most extreme import taxes to hash out trade deals like one inked with the UK earlier this month. But an off-the-cuff post by Trump on Truth Social can sent financial markets into a tailspin. It's early yet, but if markets are shaky, 'it will be interesting to see how pay is structured next year,' said Batish. He notes, as have companies, that the grant date value of equity awards, the biggest part of CEO pay, isn't recognized right away but over years and on hitting certain performance goals. But 'it is what the board intends for the CEO to pocket, and, I think, is still revealing,' said Anderson. CEOs often receive new equity grants each year. 'So, sooner or later, they will cash in, even with a few down years.' CEOs should accept down years. 'They sign up to do a job. There may be some tough times.' Best of Deadline Every 'The Voice' Winner Since Season 1, Including 9 Team Blake Champions Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Jeff Bezos Saved $6.2 Billion In Taxes Since 2017 — Experts Say Trump's Proposed Hike Won't Touch Capital Gains Loophole
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos saved $6.2 billion in taxes since 2017. According to an April report by the Institute for Policy Studies, Athena, and PowerSwitch Action. The capital-gains break that produced that haul may dodge President Donald Trump's latest plan to hike levies on America's biggest paychecks. Trump reportedly asked House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to craft a 39.6% bracket for annual incomes above $2.5 million, according to the New York Times. However, specialists argue the move nicks salaries while leaving stock-driven fortunes—where billionaires stash most wealth—largely untouched for now and again. Don't Miss: Maximize saving for your retirement and cut down on taxes: . Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Sarah Anderson, program director at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, said during an April 24 briefing that Bezos would have owed the Treasury $6.2 billion had capital gains been taxed like wages under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a law set to expire next year. Her team tallied roughly $36.7 billion in Amazon share sales fueling that savings. 'I'm not a big fan of doing that,' Johnson told Fox News on April 15, rejecting the proposed tax hike, adding, "We're the Republican Party and we're for tax reduction. Populist pressure is also rising outside Capitol Hill. Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon at the Semafor World Economy Summit on April 23 that the current tax regime is "not sustainable" and insisted any fix "has to be tax increases on the wealthy," sparking a critical response from anti-tax groups. Trending: "It's largely symbolic," said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, adding the bracket tweak "won't have a significant revenue effect and certainly not a significant effect on inequality," he told Fortune. The reason is simple math. Bezos' official paycheck in 2019 was $81,840 while he ran Amazon. Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg opted for a symbolic annual salary of $1, and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk waived his salary entirely. Their fortunes come from shares that enjoy a 20% long-term gains rate and can sit untaxed if never sold. Keeping that concession would also widen Washington's budget hole. According to an April analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center, extending the remaining 2017 tax cuts could swell deficits by around $4.1 trillion over a decade. Skepticism is already surfacing in the Senate. Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID) told radio host Hugh Hewitt on May 9 he is "not excited about the proposal," reflecting wider GOP unease. Read Next:How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you?. Image: Shutterstock Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article Jeff Bezos Saved $6.2 Billion In Taxes Since 2017 — Experts Say Trump's Proposed Hike Won't Touch Capital Gains Loophole originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Millionaires don't flee states over higher taxes
() Increasing taxes on high income earners helped raise revenue without hampering the wealth of the millionaire class in Massachusetts and Washington, according to a new policy brief from the Institute for Policy Studies and State Revenue Alliance. A common counter to raising taxes on the rich is that they will simply flee their home states to jurisdictions with friendlier tax codes. While some tax migration is inevitable, the wealthy that move to avoid taxes represent a tiny percentage of their own social class. The top one percent are incentivized not to move because of family, social networks and local business knowledge. Our findings support the case against tax flight: The number of individuals with a net worth of at least seven-figures continued to expand in both Massachusetts and Washington after tax hikes. The millionaire class has grown by 38.6 percent in Massachusetts and 46.9 percent in Washington over the past two years. The seven-figure clubs in those states saw their wealth grow by $580 million and $748 million, respectively. Not only did millionaires not flee the states imposing new taxes, but the states became richer. The four percent surtax on million-dollar incomes in Massachusetts and the seven percent tax on capital gains of $250,000 or more in Washington State succeeded in raising revenue — $2.2 billion for FY 2024 and $1.2 billion in its first two years of implementation, respectively. These new resources have been invested in educational programs that support early learning, childcare, and free school lunches and community college. In the case of Massachusetts, some of the revenue collected is earmarked towards public transportation. That experience contrasts with the failure of the Great Kansas Tax Cut Experiment that began in 2012. The Sunflower State lagged behind its neighbors in a number of economic categories and experienced revenue shortfalls. The experiment was abandoned five years later. Lastly, the brief looks at the revenue potential of a wealth tax aimed at ultra-high net worth individuals. We identified individuals with $50 million or more in wealth across four states and estimated how much different taxes could raise. These individuals have the liquidity to pay and, as my colleague and former tax attorney Bob Lord has argued, need to have their rate of accumulation curbed. A two percent wealth tax on this class of ultra-high net worth individuals has the potential to raise $7.4 billion in Massachusetts, $21.9 billion in New York, $700 million in Rhode Island, and $8.2 billion in Washington. This is a significant source of potential revenue that can be invested in a green transition, permanently affordable housing, and universal healthcare. At the time of writing, legislators in Washington State are awaiting Governor Bob Ferguson's signature to pass new taxes to help bring down their $16 billion budget deficit. Even a one-time three percent wealth tax could bring down the deficit from $16 billion to $3.7 billion. We have witnessed a counterrevolution over the past 50 years where the nation's wealth and income has concentrated at an extreme level in the hands of a small but powerful minority. They use their resources to increase their access to the state, buy up more assets, and squeeze the living standards of the working-class. We have the policy tools at our disposal to reverse this trend. Let's put progressive taxation to work. This commentary was originally published at and is republished under a Creative Commons 3.0 License.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
We got arrested for praying at the U.S. Capitol. But we won't be deterred.
A week ago Monday, Congress returned to Washington to begin work on the federal budget and, by week's end, the White House had released its 'skinny budget' that is its outline to make permanent the cuts attempted by Elon Musk's DOGE effort. These disastrous proposals, which come out of the same Project 2025 playbook that Trump disavowed during his campaign, would devastate the most vulnerable people in our communities. As pastors who preach Jesus' good news to the poor, on April 28, we joined moral leaders from religious denominations and civic organizations to launch 'Moral Mondays' at the U.S. Capitol. We spent the first 100 days of Trump's presidency studying his administration's proposals to dismantle the federal government, and we issued a report with the Institute for Policy Studies to help the public understand what the consequences of a Trump budget would be. Lifting the cries of people whose lives could be destroyed, we bowed our heads in prayer in the Capitol Rotunda. After several minutes, officers were dispatched to ask us to stop praying. But our conscience would not allow us to stop. Though we were arrested and carried away, we have not stopped praying. Moral Monday is back at the Capitol today to continue to lift a collective prayer that we all might be saved from this immoral budget. Ironically, three days later, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was in the Rose Garden observing the National Day of Prayer with religious leaders who have chosen to whitewash over Trump's policy violence. Johnson bowed his head and asked God's blessings not only for the nation, but also for the immoral agenda that he has agreed to champion as 'one big, beautiful bill.' Earlier in the week, Johnson could not help smirking as he used Trump's moniker for the monstrous budget at a 'Pro-Life America' banquet in Washington. 'Don't judge me if I have to name it that,' Johnson chuckled, 'it's what we, uh, it's what he, wants to do.' True prayer is always an invitation to humble ourselves before God and acknowledge our human limitations. Yet, Christian nationalist leaders like Speaker Johnson want to appropriate prayer as divine blessing for the things God hates. They claim to celebrate the role of public prayer in U.S. history, noting that the Continental Congress called for a day of 'Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer' during the American Revolution. But it's not right for leaders such as Johnson to try to claim the moral authority of patriots who cried out to God while they risked life and liberty to challenge a tyrant — not when they're cowering obediently to billionaires, abdicating their responsibility and bowing to the will of an American president acting like a dictator. Theirs is the hypocritical form of prayer that Amos confronted in the Bible and led him to prophesy in the voice of God, 'I hate your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me.' When political leaders use religion to try to justify policies that hurt women, children, immigrants and the vulnerable, Amos declares that their prayers become an offense to God. 'Woe unto you,' Jesus says to the religious leaders of his own day who used their office to prop up a Roman regime that exploited the poor. 'You have neglected,' he said, 'the weightier matters of the law.' We've brought Moral Mondays to the U.S. Capitol because the 'weightier matters' of our religious and moral traditions, which call us to protect the poor and the most vulnerable in our communities, are being neglected as an agenda backed by a narrow set of billionaires aims to dismantle our nation's social safety net. A dozen years ago, we witnessed a similar effort to deconstruct state government programs in North Carolina. Though extremists who controlled all three branches of state government at the time had the power to pursue this agenda, we knew the struggle wasn't Democrats versus Republicans. It was a moral struggle that could unite all of us. When we began with a small number of religious and moral leaders in April 2013, Gov. Pat McCrory's approval rating was 65%. By the end of that summer, in which we'd held Moral Mondays every week, he was polling at 30%, and he never recovered. McCrory was the only incumbent Republican governor to lose a re-election bid in 2016. Trump and Johnson want to pass this immoral budget before Memorial Day, but the truth is that only 35% of Americans support their trial run of these cuts through DOGE in Trump's first 100 days. Twelve House Republicans have already written to Johnson to say they cannot support proposed cuts to Medicaid. Whether we care for the poor, the sick and the vulnerable is not a question of partisan loyalty, but of moral commitment. We are bringing the prayers of millions to our nation's Capitol because we continue to believe that the values of love, mercy and justice are moral values that go deeper than partisan loyalty. We have written to congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle and asked them to pray with us and with members of our communities who would be impacted by these proposed cuts. We know the power of prayer to change hearts. But whether they change or not, we will continue to pray that one more powerful than our elected leaders will save us from the destruction they have planned. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Prof G says wealthy Americans ‘hoard' too much money, calls it a 'virus.' Here's his tax solution
Hoarding possessions is considered to be a mental-health disorder, but is hoarding wealth considered to be a similar psychological issue? Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University, certainly thinks so. I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement — what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Nervous about the stock market in 2025? Find out how you can access this $1B private real estate fund (with as little as $10) Here are 3 'must have' items that Americans (almost) always overpay for — and very quickly regret. How many are hurting you? 'A virus that infects America is that people hoard [money],' says the 60-year-old on an episode of The Prof G podcast. 'There is no reason to be a billionaire.' While some might agree with Galloway's proclamation, roughly 800 Americans have found a reason to accumulate over $1 billion, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. Among this cohort are 12 American billionaires who have earned more than $100 billion and are still actively working to accumulate more, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Meanwhile, the median net worth of American households is roughly $192,900, according to the most recent data published by the Federal Reserve. Galloway isn't the first to highlight this wealth disparity and the apparent hoarding of assets by those who already have enough money to last for generations. However, Galloway does offer a unique perspective and a potential solution to the problem. Galloway argues that a person can experience significant happiness when their income jumps from $30,000 a year to $50,000, but beyond a certain threshold, additional income offers diminishing returns on happiness. 'The difference between anything above $10 million a year is nominal if non-existent,' he claims. This echoes the findings of a 2010 study published by Nobel Prize laureates Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton which revealed that a rise in income can improve someone's well-being, but only up to a ceiling of $75,000 a year. Similarly, a study by Wharton University's Matthew Killingsworth found that 'policies aimed at raising the incomes of lower earners could do far more to improve overall happiness than simply giving bonuses to the wealthy or cutting taxes for the highest earners.' With this in mind, Galloway suggests a more progressive tax structure could help resolve America's wealth gap and economic dissatisfaction. Read more: Trump warns his tariffs will spark a 'disturbance' in America — use this 1 dead-simple move to help shockproof your retirement plans ASAP According to the Tax Foundation, a 'progressive' tax system is one where high-income individuals or households pay more in taxes than low-income earners. Given that there are seven tax brackets, ranging from 10% to 37% for the 2024 tax year, America's tax policy can be considered progressive. However, Galloway calls for higher tax rates at higher income thresholds. 'Why wouldn't we have, or restore, a much more progressive tax structure above $10 million a year?' he asks, explaining that such taxes would have minimal impacts on the well-being of ultra-wealthy individuals. 'These people aren't going to lose anything. They're not going to be any less happier.' The revenue generated from a more progressive tax policy could then be used for vocational training programs, or a child tax credit to enhance the well-being of lower- to middle-income Americans. 'That will create a ton of happiness across our nation,' says Galloway. From 1944 to 1963, America's tax system was far more progressive, with the top income tax rate exceeding 90% — peaking at 94% in 1944 for the highest earners, according to accounting firm Wolters Kluwer. Polling data from this period suggests consumers were relatively satisfied with their lives. In March, 1957, 96% of U.S. adults said they were either 'very happy' or 'fairly happy' while only 3% said they were unhappy, according to Gallup. Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan 'works every single time' to kill debt, get rich in America — and that 'anyone' can do it Rich, young Americans are ditching the stormy stock market — here are the alternative assets they're banking on instead Cost-of-living in America is still out of control — and prices could keep climbing. Use these 3 'real assets' to protect your wealth today, no matter what Trump does This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Sign in to access your portfolio
