Disney adjusts CEO Bob Iger's stock bonus package
The Walt Disney Company has reworked CEO Bob Iger’s bonus compensation package, making it more difficult for the executive to earn his full stock-based award when his contract expires in 2021, according to a filing Monday.
Under the new guidelines, Iger can only earn his full stock-based bonus if Disney outperforms 65 percent of the companies on the S&P 500 Index. The deal’s previous terms allowed Iger to earn his full bonus if Disney outperformed just half the listed companies. Iger can earn a larger stock bonus if Disney shares perform in the 75th percentile or higher, though the new deal also reduces the maximum stock grant he can receive to 125 percent from 150 percent.
Iger is projected to receive a stock bonus worth roughly $135 million if Disney hits the 75th percentile benchmark, according to calculations by The Hollywood Reporter. If Disney shares fail to outperform 60.5 percent of S&P 500 companies, Iger will receive fewer shares than he would have under the previous arrangement.
Disney said the new deal was meant to "establish more rigorous performance requirements for his equity award than those reflected in the original contract."
The reworked terms were disclosed after Disney shareholders pushed back on the company’s executive compensation plan. In a nonbinding vote, 52 percent of shareholders opposed the plan, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Iger agreed to remain Disney’s CEO through 2021 last year to oversee the company’s integration of Fox film and television assets acquired in a $71.3 billion deal. He earned $36.3 million from the company in fiscal 2017.