Target CEO Brian Cornell earned 680 times its median employee's pay last year. And that was after he saw a pay cut.

• Target CEO Brian Cornell earned total compensation of more than $17.6 million in 2022, per SEC filings.
• The median employee — a part-time hourly worker — earned $25,993 for the full year.

Much of Target's success over the past decade can be traced to the strategy and leadership of its CEO, Brian Cornell, who has been with the company since 2014.

Cornell is well-compensated for his leadership, earning a base salary of $1.4 million annually, with additional stock awards, bonuses, and other perks like access to the company's airplane.

Those extras added more than $16.2 million in 2022, bringing his total package to $17.6 million for the year, per the company's proxy filing on Monday.

By comparison, the median Target employee — a part-time hourly worker in the US — earned $25,993 from the company last year. That works out to a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 680 to one.

Target employs roughly 450,000 workers across nearly 2,000 US stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices, and the median employee is chosen by sorting every worker by total annual pay and choosing the one in the middle of that list.

Cornell's pay is slightly less than that of Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who saw more than $25.3 million in 2022, while the median Walmart employee earned slightly more, with $27,136. McMillon's pay ratio was even higher, earning 933 times the typical worker's annual pay.

Cornell and McMillon's pay ratios were more than double the average S&P 500 CEO, which made 324 times their company's average worker, according to a report last year from the AFL-CIO labor union.

Most companies argue that the mandatory CEO pay ratio figure should not be used to compare different types of businesses. For example, retail businesses tend to employ more part-time and seasonal workers than most other types of companies, which generally causes the median pay figure to be lower and the CEO pay ratio to be higher.

Cornell's pay package for 2022 was also smaller than 2021 and 2020, during which he earned more than $19.7 million per year due to much smaller bonuses and short-term incentive payouts last year. The pay ratios for those years were 775 and 805, respectively.

Under a new calculation that companies are required to disclose as of this year, Cornell saw his net worth decline by more than $9.6 million last year after adjustments to recognize the fair value of his stock awards.

Of course, that decline is more than offset by the gains he saw in 2021 and 2020, with $57.8 million and $73.3 million, respectively.

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