The Overpaid CEO Summary

A way to counteract the Principal Agent problem would be to increase the liability that the CEO has in the company. If the CEO were not strictly paid on a salary but rather by the performance of the company then the CEO would be better benefited by the success of the company. There are many companies that have realized that and have implemented it into their CEO compensation packages. In an article by Tim Worstall he explains that Apple has taken measures to counteract any possibilities for the CEO to act his/her own personal interest and not of the shareholders or companies interests. Instead of the CEO being compensated for successfully reaching a target set by the Board of Directors, Apple makes the CEO substantially invested in the company, executive officers must own three times their base salary in Apple’s stock (2013). This means that the CEO is now heavily invested in the company and a shareholder, so

Executive Compensation. I’m in agreement with Thomas Piketty that the one cause of rising inequality in the United States “the rise of supersalaries” for top executives (Piketty & Goldhammer, 2014, p. 298). The average American estimates CEO to worker pay ratio at about 30-to-1, which is more than 4 times what they believe to be ideal. The career review site Glassdoor reported from 2014 data that the average pay ratio of CEO to median worker was 204-to-1 and that at the top of the list, four CEOs earn more than 1,000 times the salary of their median worker with the very top pay ratio of 1,951-to-1. In some cases a CEO makes in one-hour what it takes the average employee six-months to earn. In comparison, the Washington Post reported for the

7. Option compensation will continue to be a critical component of compensation for executives as it simplistically aligns the executives’ pay to shareholder value in its simplest sense. I don’t believe that options compensation is the primary driver of behavior when things shift from the legal to the illegal. As with most senior executives in industry, ego is a huge driver in individual behavior. Compensation is important, but the recognition of your performance is sometimes even more important. We have created a performance driven culture without the necessary control framework for people to operate within. One minute you are doing a great job, the next you have crossed an imaginary line. The frameworks don’t do enough to quantify behavior as legal and illegal leaving inconsistent rules for organizations to operate within. How does Enron compare to the subprime mortgage debacle, or to Steve Jobs backdating options. There remains too much room for interpretation.

CEOs usually get paid a lot more than any of their employees and it is believed that the ratio between the CEOs salary and the average employee salary has continued to increase throughout the years (Mackey, 2014). The increase in the CEOs salary is mainly attributed to two factors: First, the required skills and the high responsibilities that are associated with this position. Second, the number of qualified people who could fill such a position is really limited (Executive Compensation, n.d.). This does explain the

From one point, a CEO is just like a leader of a company, so some people believe that they should not be fired because firing a leader will destroy the corporates’ core structure. For example, HP’s CEO Mark Hurd gave outsiders confidence with a clear signal of no-nonsense business style. During his five years working period, HP’s stock price has double increased, while the whole US share market has gone sideways.

Executive pay – excessive pay for top executives is one problem that will not go away. It is a response to public concern about pay rises that are unrelated to effort, plus a number of high-profile cases of failed executives getting pay-offs of up to US $100 million and others having stock options backdated to give them a share of earlier capital gains. This at least tells shareholders exactly what their top executives are earning.

Steve Jobs and Kanye Wests’ names are synonymous with innovative technology and award-winning music, but following these enormous reputations are larger-than-life egos. In today’s highly-competitive society, it seems as if big egos are the norm rather than the extreme, with many individuals gaining an overly dominant and unhealthy belief of self-importance that devalues organizations and teams. This notion has been quantitatively proven in a study by Michael Cooper that determined “CEO pay is negatively related to future shareholder wealth changes for periods up to five years after sorting on pay”, in other words, despite the poor performance of their respective companies, CEOs get paid even higher than normal. Though choosing status over results has never been an experience I’ve personally had, choosing status over other important things like happiness and friendship are. These temptations

CEO incentives make it so that it is their main job to help the stock price rise. By doing this, they increase the value of the company. When the value of the company increases, stocks go up, and wealthy people who own the stocks reap the benefits. Corporate leaders align their interests with the immediate interest of stockholders. This allows CEOs to cut wages as this betters the price and profit of stockholders. Financial strip-mining cut out millions of well-paid jobs and lowered the wages of average workers. Unregulated Wall Street has ruined the American economy for

The final reason that the companies are over paying CEOs is that the nonprofit organizations are paying their CEOs very highly. According to Peter Frumkin in his article “Are nonprofit CEOs overpaid?” he writes about “264 big nonprofit CEOs earn a salary of $207,990… and a CEO of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation earn 389,327” (83). These are a nonprofit companies yet they are paying there CEOs quite a bit of money that could be going toward the cause they are trying to raise for. The CEOs should not be earning that amount of money when it is being given to go towards the cause that they people are giving their money for. A CEO that is supposed to find money to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis is taking a good amount of the money home that

Take severance packages for example. When the average employee in no longer benefitting the company, chances are they will be let go. Besides a final paycheck for hours worked and the possibility of unemployment collection, they do not receive anything else from the company. When a CEO is no longer performing up to standards, they are forced to resign but walk away with much more than a final paycheck. Chuck Prince of Citigroup was shown the door after the company lost $64 billion in market value, yet he left with $68 million and a cash bonus of $12.5 million (Nickels, McHugh & McHugh, 2010). Not only are CEOs paid a substantial amount more for their work, they are paid a substantial amount more to leave the company all together. In 2009, President Obama and Congress put limits on executive compensation of firms receiving money under the federal government bailout programs. The payout to CEOs leaving their companies was limited to $500,000 but it wasn’t for all companies across the board. This new limit only applied to companies who had borrowed money from the government during periods of economic downfall and hadn’t yet paid it back. Despite the decrease in monetary payout, CEOs were still allowed a decent portion of restricted stock which amounted for a fairly large payout when the stock could be sold a few years down the line.

Stock options are another main concern and are based upon the performance of a company. A lot of companies are in a low return and low compensation which then caused bad business and it’s about 400 times that amount. I believe the government is trying to tighten down on excessive executive compensation with implementing salary caps. Executives are unrealistic with common life and way of living therefore; they do not take any consideration with the underdogs of the company or the world. The economy does have hope but it’s a long way from being stabilized once again.

In Peter Eavis’ article “Executive Pay: The Invasion of Supersalaries” the conflict of CEOs and top executives outrageous pay grade is discussed. Even though the “compensation machine” of Corporate America is running smoothly, there are multiple negative and dark undertones. In fact, many people believe that these shocking salaries are the roots of inequality within America. Currently, some CEOs are being compensated millions and millions of dollars as their normal annual salary. Even though the current executive compensation system focuses on performance and can “theoretically constrain pay,” there is nothing stopping the companies from giving their CEOs more. According to the Equilar 100 C.E.O Pay Study, “the median compensation of a

It was reasonable for a CEO’s compensation to increase as the company expanded and became a larger entity, and the newly-granted shares and increasing stock options further aligned the CEO’s personal interests with those of the company and shareholders. In this sense, the second compensation package was also well-structured and not excessive. Seeing Sunbeam’s revenue rising and stock price climbing steeply upwards, Sunbeam’s shareholders and directors were fully convinced by Dunlap’s leadership, so they might perceive the increase in compensation amount necessary to retain and better motivate Dunlap to enhance the company’s value. Nonetheless, they neglected the fact that the increased portion of the equity-based compensation also further motivated the CEO’s dangerous behaviors pertaining to improper earnings management.

This report explores the issue of the pay that top executives make, and the reasons why they do. It also suggests improvements that can be made to make the system better. High Pay Seems Small When Compared To Company Profits Many companies pull in profits that are extremely high. When an employee of such a companies salary is compared to the amount of profit that the company earns, it starts to seem reasonable. It only makes sense that if the employee is directly responsible for the success of their company, then they deserve to get their payback. It seems ironic, but many salaries even look small once compared with a companies profits. Top Executives Are Under A Lot Of Pressure Being the CEO of a

To successfully steer a corporation across the span of years by integrating its strengths toward the goal of creating wealth, requires from the CEO exceptional thought and judgment. Excellent CEOs are as rare as MLB-caliber pitchers or NFL-caliber quarterbacks. And in the business world, every day is the Super Bowl. There is no off-season or respite from the need to perform at one's peak.