While millions of investors ended the year, the worst since the Great Recession, with losses in their accounts, one group remained virtually unscathed. The CEOs of the 500 largest U.S. public companies recorded an average earnings of $18.8 million, an increase of about 21 percent compared to 2021.
Although the S&P 500 index fell by 20 percent last year, company management rewarded managers for managing to keep their heads above water during rising inflation rates, ongoing supply chain issues, and numerous other economic and political challenges, as reported by Time magazine. However, as in every year before, the non-profit organization promoting corporate social responsibility, As You Sow, compiled a list of the most overpaid CEOs whose annual earnings, simply put, do not align with the success of the companies they manage.
Overpaid Zaslav
The organization compiled the list by analyzing three factors: shareholder earnings, the percentage of shareholders who voted against the proposed CEO earnings at the annual meeting, and the ratio of CEO earnings to the average employee salary. Thus, at the top of the list of the ‘most overpaid’ CEOs of the 500 best companies is the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, who earned a total of $246 million last year, even though the company’s stock price fell by 60 percent.
