Media Exces Pay Remains In Statrosphere

David Zaslav

Among captains of industry, entertainment executives continue to reap some of the biggest rewards when it comes to compensation, according to The LA Times.

The biggest pay day so far went to Discovery Communications Chief Executive David Zaslav, who received a $156.1-million compensation package in 2014 even though he manages one of the smaller media companies. That's a stratospheric level even by Wall Street standards. Consider that JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's largest bank, reported in January that CEO Jamie Dimon raked in a pay package of $20 million.

The lucrative compensation packages come at an increasingly troubled time in the media industry. Media companies are struggling to adapt to changes brought on by digital competitors such as Netflix, which is attracting consumers who once spent the bulk of their free time watching traditional TV channels.

Les Moonves

Zaslav is not the only media executive with handsome rewards. CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves last year received a pay package valued at $57 million, according to a CBS proxy filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission late Friday.

Moonves' compensation, which included a $25-million bonus, represented a nearly 15% decline from 2013. Moonves' pay package had been shooting up along with the value of CBS stock — but the company's shares lost ground last year as Wall Street fretted about the industry trends of audience fragmentation and the proliferation of online streaming services.

Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said that sky-high executive compensation packages for media executives is just a symptom of a larger problem. Many of the companies have two classes of stock — voting and nonvoting shares — which reduces ordinary shareholders to bystanders with no influence.

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