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We did the math to calculate how many hours it takes America's top CEOs to make what their workers earn in one year
We did the math to calculate how many hours it takes America's top CEOs to make what their workers earn in one year
Andy KierszFeb 9, 2020, 20:25 IST
While it's not surprising that CEOs make a lot more money than their employees, the massive extent of that pay gap can sometimes be overlooked.
US companies are required to publish their chief executives' annual compensation, as well as the ratio of that compensation to the annual pay of the company's median employee.
Using those ratios, we calculated how long it took CEOs at 19 of the biggest companies in the US to make what at typical employee earned in a year.
Several CEOs, including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, took less than a day to make a typical employee's annual salary.
So far, 19 of the 100 largest corporations in the S&P 500 as measured by their market capitalizations have filed their CEO compensation figures and pay ratios for the 2019 fiscal year. More companies will follow over the next several months.
The gap between what a CEO makes and what a typical employee makes varies widely from company to company. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang had a total compensation 88 times larger than the typical employee at his company, meaning it took him a little over four days to earn the median employee's annual salary. Meanwhile, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon made 1,076 times what the typical Walmart worker made, and thus earned a median Walmart employee's annual salary in just eight hours.
6. Estée Lauder CEO Fabrizio Freda took 12 hours and 34 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
CEO compensation: $21,435,428
Typical employee salary: $30,733
Ratio: 697:1
5. Former Accenture Interim CEO David P. Rowland took 10 hours and 43 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
CEO compensation: $15,031,875
Typical employee salary: $18,392
Ratio: 817:1
Note: Rowland stepped down as CEO in September 2019 and was succeeded by Julie Sweet. Accenture also provided an alternate estimate of the CEO pay ratio based on a cost-of-living adjustment, as their median employee was based in India. Using that estimate, the ratio was 298:1, and Rowland would have made what the median employee did in 1 day, 5 hours.
4. Disney CEO Bob Iger took 9 hours and 37 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
CEO compensation: $47,517,762
Typical employee salary: $52,184
Ratio: 911:1
3. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon took 8 hours and 8 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
CEO compensation: $23,618,233
Typical employee salary: $21,952
Ratio: 1,076:1
2. TJX CEO Ernie Herrman took 5 hours and 29 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
CEO compensation: $18,822,770
Typical employee salary: $11,791
Ratio: 1,596:1
1. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson took 5 hours and 14 minutes to earn what a typical employee made in a year.
