The constant narrative going around ESPN and parent company Disney is that it’s been a tough time with balancing budgets, layoffs, and the changing sports, media, and entertainment worlds. A tough time for everyone that is except for Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Within the last several months, both Disney and ESPN made scores of layoffs that made news. On the ESPN side, the company parted ways with three high profile talents before the fall – Sunday NFL Countdown host Sam Ponder, NFL and college football analyst Robert Griffin III, and NBA thought leader Zach Lowe. All of them were explained as budgetary moves, needed for ESPN to meet their fiscal demands.
Similarly, Disney laid off 300 corporate staffers in September. Going back further, the pink slips have been relentless at Disney with Pixar, Disney Entertainment Television, and even more casualties at ESPN including big names like Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson as well as longtime vets like Suzy Kolber and Steve Young.
It was all seemingly part of Iger’s plans to cut $7.5 billion from the Disney’s expenses. Except he apparently didn’t include his own salary and benefits package as part of that.
Deadline was one of many publications that reported on Bob Iger’s compensation thanks to a filing with the SEC this week that detailed a 30% overall increase for the CEO. While his “salary” remained at $1 million, he received plenty of cash in bonuses, stock options, and elsewhere.
Disney CEO Bob Iger’s total compensation for the 2024 fiscal year climbed to $41.1 million, according to a proxy filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday – a 30% increase compared to his $31.6 million package in fiscal 2023.
The 2024 pay package included a $1 million salary, $18.25 million in stock awards, $12 million in option awards, $7.22 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, $495,142 reflecting a change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings, and $2,145,767 in “other” compensation, including $523,685 in personal air travel and $1.44 million in security costs.
The company line from Disney/ESPN is always going to be that these things are unrelated. Surely they would insist that the CEO’s mega increase in salary does not correspond in any way to the tough, agonizing decisions on which longterm employees who have served the company for years are told to pack up their belongings and hit the exits.
While Disney has been busy laying off hundreds, Bob Iger is getting his own personal coffers filled with a half million dollars for “personal air travel.” ESPN has jettisoned some of its most popular and influential talent, sacrificing quality in coverage, while Bob Iger gets over $2 million in “other” compensation.
Granted, maybe there isn’t going to be a Disney Squid Game where Iger’s stock options are filling a piggy bank while people underneath fight for their jobs. But there is absolutely no denying the horrible, toxic optics here for the company. Seeing Iger gain $10 million in compensation while people are losing their jobs isn’t exactly a great way to build company morale.