I Wanna Be a CEO

Figures lie and liars figure.

Sometimes, the statistics are so overwhelming that they reveal a truth. The truth is that it is very good indeed to be a corporate CEO.

In 2021, the median compensation package for CEOs of the S&P 500 companies was $14.5 million, an increase of 17.1% from 2020. Median means that half of the CEOs made more than that while half made less. An average value would have been skewed by the top dog at Expedia who hauled in a cool $296.2 million. That’s $840 K per day. I guess he’s not ordering off the Dollar menu at McDonald’s. JP Morgan Chase’s guy got by on $84.4 million last year. It’s a good thing those Trump Tax Cuts passed or he would be standing on the street alongside a crude cardboard sign saying “Please Help”.

Corporate apologists reply, “Those median compensation figures for CEOs are deceptive. Three quarters of Mr Big’s compensation package is in deferred stock options. He (and it is “he” in 488 of the 500 top CEOs) only sees 25% of that package as cash in his bank account.” Guess what, folks? One quarter of that median $14.5 million is nearly $4 million cash in hand. That ain’t bad.

Corporate apologists continue, “In 2021, CEOs had to navigate snarled supply chains and materials shortages. In many cases, companies had to increase compensation to convince established leaders to stay on the job.” Pay me $14.5 million and I’ll unsnarl those supply chains for you. More to the point, the guys at Air Products who really knew how to build our plants and bring them back on-line when they failed were not the clowns in the designer suits and $200 haircuts on the 3d floor of the Main Building with the big compensation packages.

Meanwhile, the workers that made it all possible saw an increase of 4.4%, their highest increase since 2001. Of course, inflation was roughly 7% over the year so the worker bees were actually worse off.

2022 may not be as lucrative for CEOs. The stock market is down. Energy-intensive businesses are taking a beating.

Somehow, those brave CEOs will muddle through and I’ll bet that their median compensation will increase by a whole lot more than what the people who make it possible see in their paychecks.

By Ed Dufton