the 10 highest paid ceos on record

Notes on Executive Pay

All data reflects 2014 compensation.

Compensation includes salary, value of stock and option awards, and non-equity incentive compensation. When computing size of compensation, the company’s annual net income for 2014 is used.

CEOs who were on their first year on the job were not included. The first year often includes heavy stock and option compensation that will not continue for the CEO’s tenure.

Compensation figures come from the AFL-CIO database on Executive Pay. Company metrics come from Yahoo! Finance and YCharts. All data regarding company performance is on an annualized basis starting when the CEO took over.

10. Josh Sapan,AMC Networks

• Compensation: $40 million

• Stock returns: 17% per year

• Revenue growth: 15% per year

• Net income growth: 25% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 15.34%

Sapan’s numbers above are

somewhat skewed: Though he has

been CEO since 1995, AMC

Networks has only been publicly

traded since June of 2011.

Photo: AMC Networks

9. Leonard

Schleifer, Regeneron

Pharmaceuticals

• Compensation: $42 million

• Stock returns: 14% per year

• Revenue growth: 30% per year

• Net income growth: 53% per

year (since 2004)

• Compensation as % of net

income: 12.07%

Dr. Schleifer founded

Regeneron in 1988 and

has led the company ever

since.

8. Marissa Mayer, Yahoo!

• Compensation: $42 million

• Stock returns: 42% per year

• Revenue growth: (2%) per year

• Net income growth: 24% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 0.55%

Mayer is attempting to turn around

Yahoo! with a focus on video and

social media. The purchase of

Tumblr was a cornerstone of the

strategy.

7. Jay Brown, MBIA

• Compensation: $44 million

• Stock returns: (4%) per year

• Revenue growth: (19%) per

year

• Net income growth: (2%) per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 7.73%

This is Brown’s second

stint as CEO of MBIA. He

was brought back during

the onslaught of the Great

Recession. At the time, the

company had major

exposure to mortgage-

backed securities.

6. Philippe

Dauman,Viacom

• Compensation: $44 million

• Stock returns: 6% per year

• Revenue growth: 4% per year

• Net income growth: 4% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 1.84%

Dauman has run Viacom since it

became a public company. It

owns many popular networks,

including MTV, SPIKE,

Nickelodeon, and Comedy

Central.

Photo: Viacom.

5. Bob Iger,Disney

• Compensation: $46 million

• Stock returns: 17% per year

• Revenue growth: 5% per year

• Net income growth: 12% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 0.61%

Iger has been at the helm of Disney

since 2005. Over that time frame,

the company has seen tremendous

growth in its stock, with a focus on

international expansion.

4. Les Moonves,CBS

• Compensation: $57 million

• Stock returns: 12% per year

• Revenue growth: 0% per year

• Net income growth: 6% per

year

• Salary as % of net income:

1.93%

Moonves has led CBS since its

split with Viacom in late 2005. He

actually tried his hand at acting

before becoming a media

executive.

Photo: David Shankbone via Wikimedia

Commons.

3. Jon

Feltheimer,Lions Gate

• Compensation: $64 million

• Stock returns: 19% per year

• Revenue growth: 18% per year

• Net income growth: 43% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 35.16%

Feltheimer has been calling the

shots at Lions Gate since 2000.

During that time frame, the

company’s popular hits include

Hunger Games and Breaking Bad.Photo: Lions Gate

2. Mario Gabelli,GAMCO

• Compensation: $89 million

• Stock returns: 11% per year

• Revenue growth: 7% per year

• Net income growth: 9% per

year

• Salary as % of net income:

81.35%

Gabelli founded GAMCO in 1977.

Today, he earns $0 in salary and

has no stock options or awards.

Instead, he’s paid management-

fee-based compensation.

1. David Zaslav,Discovery

Communications

• Compensation: $156 million

• Stock returns: 16% per year

• Revenue growth: 12% per year

• Net income growth: 49% per

year

• Compensation as % of net

income: 13.70%

Zaslav has run Discovery since

early 2007. He has expanded the

company’s reach with the

networks TLC and OWN.

Photo: Discovery Communications

• CEOs of media companies make up half of the high-paid

execs!

• That’s interesting, because if there’s any industry ripe for

disruption, it’s media.

In fact, we believe that there are three companies that are

set to dominate the new age of television and movies.

Some of them have already been mentioned here. To find

out which ones, continue on to the next slide.