The disparity between executive salaries and those of the workforce has been an issue of increasing scrutiny for a while as the gap has continued to widen. Now, a nonprofit shareholder advocacy group has assembled a list of the CEOs it says are the most overpaid in America.
As You Sow has been issuing its report on overpaid CEOs since 2015. Topping this year’s list, says the group, is Ronald F. Clarke, who heads Fleetcor Technologies. Clarke earned $52,643,810 last year, compared to the median employee, who took home $34,700.
Only two companies—Oracle and Comcast—have appeared on the As You Sow list each of the five years it has compiled the list. Four companies—Discovery Communications, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Walt Disney, and Wynn Resorts—are making their second consecutive appearance this year.
The group notes that the number of S&P 500 companies, where shareholder opposition to the CEO pay package is on the rise, has increased since it began the list.
“In the five years As You Sow has been publishing this report, our research has increasingly demonstrated that all investors … can play a critical role in the effort to reverse the practices that have allowed CEO compensation packages to rise unabated — often without any nexus to corporate performance,” the group said. ” Progress is evident in this 2019 report. But there is a long way to go.”
It’s worth noting that a high executive salary does not necessarily mean the group ranks the CEO as overpaid. For instance, several of the top five executives who were named on the Conference’s Board’s list of 2017’s highest compensated did not make the As You Sow list.
Here’s a look at the list’s ranking of the 10 most overpaid CEOs in America:
- Ronald F. Clarke, Fleetcor Technologies Inc
Salary: $52,643,810 (Median employee pay: $34,700) - Mark V. Hurd/Safra Catz, Oracle Corp.
Salary: $81,562,244 (Median employee pay: $89,887) - Hock Tan, Broadcom, Inc.
Salary: $103,211,163 (Median employee pay: NA) - Dirk Van de Put, Mondelez International, Inc.
Salary: $42,442,924 (Median employee pay: $42,893) - Stephen Wynn, Wynn Resorts Ltd.
Salary: $34,522,695 (Median employee pay: $44,437) - Robert Iger, The Walt Disney Co.
Salary: $36,283,680 (Median employee pay: $46,127) - W. Nicholas Howley, TransDigm Group, Inc.
Salary: $61,023,102 (Median employee pay: $46,742) - Brian Duperreault, American International Group, Inc.
Salary: $43,086,861 (Median employee pay: $64,186) - Margaret H. Georgiadis, Mattel, Inc.
Salary: $31,275,289 (Median employee pay: $6,271) - E. Hunter Harrison, CSX Corp.
Salary: $151,147,286 (Median employee pay: $98,697)
