What the Media’s Most Powerful Execs Were Paid in 2020: Did Pandemic Pay Cuts Have an Impact?
By Variety | May 7, 2021 | Read more
Partner Bertha Masuda comments on the catastrophic impact COVID has had on the media industry. In 2020, many companies responded to the shut down of movie theaters and theme parks with layoffs and furloughs. Now, as they release their annual reports and proxies, it becomes clear that executives at these same companies still rank among the nation’s highest paid executives.
Career Opportunity
CAP Senior Analyst
By Compensation Advisory Partners | Apr 19, 2021 | Read more
CAP has an exciting opportunity to join our team.
CFO Pay Rises as Their Companies Navigate Coronavirus Pandemic
By The Wall Street Journal | Apr 15, 2021 | Read more
Median pay for finance chiefs at the largest U.S. companies rose 7% during the 2020 fiscal year, largely driven by stock-based compensation. According to Partner Melissa Burek, the decision for boards to modify their pay plans amid the pandemic is not easy and requires good judgement. Approximately 30% of S&P 1500 companies that have held their annual meeting already modified their bonuses due to COVID.
CEO Pay Surged in a Year of Upheaval and Leadership Challenges
By The Wall Street Journal | Apr 11, 2021 | Read more
CEO pay kept climbing in 2020 as some companies moved performance targets or modified pay structures in response to the pandemic and accompanying economic pain. Principal Shaun Bisman notes that the number of changes seen in incentive plans is unprecedented. In some cases, investors have responded by withholding support for company pay practices in annual advisory votes.
Pay Ratios Poised for More Scrutiny This Proxy Season
By Agenda | Apr 5, 2021 | Read more
On the subject of pay ratio disclosures at companies that furloughed employees, Senior Associate Ryan Colucci cautions that the timing of furloughs and their duration will matter when it comes to deciding whether to include or exclude furloughed employees from the median calculation. He adds that it is perfectly reasonable to back up the determination date to later in the year if that makes it easier to calculate the median as long as a rationale is disclosed.
Vanguard Links CEO Comp to Reputational Risk
By Agenda | Mar 29, 2021 | Read more
Principal Lauren Peek says moves to consider reputational risk in comp plans have been “building” over the past few years. She believes reputation risk really started to gain traction in the height of the MeToo movement, when companies started to think about reputational risk just beyond financial risk to companies. She notes that 2020 was a year that had very similar themes when looking at the racial injustice protests seen over the summer.
CEO Pay Seesaws Under Pandemic Pressure
By Agenda | Mar 26, 2021 | Read more
Principal Lauren Peek discusses the disparate impact the pandemic had on different companies based on CAP’s review of 50 companies with fiscal year-ends between August and October 2020. Despite an across-the-board dip in median financial performance, total direct compensation at median for CEOs among early filers in 2020 rose 8% over 2019 comp. Peek explains that the increase is deceptive given the disparate impact the pandemic had on different companies.
Pre-IPO Equity Incentive Practices
By Compensation Standards | Mar 25, 2021 | Read more
Compensation Standards features CAP’s memo examining a sample of 20 high-profile tech IPOs from recent years to understand equity practices leading up to going public. The memo finds, among other insights, that options are still the favorite form of equity awards – but there’s been a shift to granting more RSUs, typically with double-trigger vesting based on both years of service and going public.
