Netflix announced its compensation estimation for its top executives
As the year comes to an end, Netflix revealed its senior executives’ expected salaries. Estimates of the compensation Netflix would offer its senior executives in 2023 place Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, the company’s co-CEOs, at $34.65 million and $40 million, respectively. In a document submitted to the SEC today, the board of directors’ compensation committee provided a 2022 estimate. Hastings will receive $650,000 in base pay in addition to $34 million in stock options. Sarandos will be paid a salary of $3 million, $20 million in stock options, and a bonus that is anticipated to be in the neighborhood of $17 million.
One of the very few companies, Netflix, provides CEO pay advice rather than just providing data from the previous year. Greg Peters, the business’ COO, and head of product, will earn $24 million in 2023, exactly what was foreseen in the previous year’s forecast. He did play a crucial role in the organization’s recent launch of an ad-supported membership tier and foray into the video game industry. His base salary will account for $1.5 million of the total, while incentives and options are each worth $10.5 million and $10 million, respectively. According to the filing from the previous year, Peters and other executives did not expect to get bonuses in 2022.
“Awards under the plan will only be paid after the achievement of specified performance goals,” this year’s filing notes. “The committee will be the administrator of the plan and will assign each participant a target award and performance goal or goals for a performance period set by the committee. The estimated target bonus amounts set out in the table above are estimates only, and any actual amounts that may be paid to the may differ based on factors adopted by the committee pursuant to the plan.”
The working atmosphere at Hastings, Sarandos & Co. has undergone a substantial change in the last year. As of 2022, when the stock was still valued at over $600, the company’s dominance was demonstrated by the global popularity of shows like Squid Game, which even inspired a snarky remark from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
In the months that followed, the company would report its first subscriber losses in more than a decade, along with weak guidance that reflected the costs of fierce competition. As the difficult year wore on, the co-CEOs reduced their hiring, and finally, they reduced their content spending. In terms of subscribers, Netflix will still be the market leader in 2023, but it will face various challenges, including password sharing, advertisements, and video games.