David Zaslav is an especially egregious example of an executive who awards himself an enormous pay package and returns zero value in exchange. He has managed to destroy one of the most storied names in Hollywood—Warner Brothers—in exchange for paying himself ever increasingly higher compensation.
WBD has laid off thousands of people, while this clown continues to rake in the bux and live like a king. He brings no value to anything and swans around Hollywood like he’s God’s gift to show biz. The French Revolution had a point, ya know.
Dannys, Trump would be in favor of it, if he could actually comprehend what it is. I am guessing Trump's entorage would love it and the cult would totally be on board. If they actually did a Robin Hood, it would be a 180 because now, they are staling from the poor and giving to the rich.
His evangelical fearmongering fans are the ones who have been warning of the antichrist for 100+ years! I don't think most of the left believes in an antichrist. They have said when he comes, the people will get hoodwinked and think he is a god. This is their stuff. Not any leftwingers I know. Per their definition of the "Antichrist," they are the ones doing the false god worship right? So, per their definition...
LOL. Let’s see, he would have to know who Christ is, what an antichrist is. Given that he doesn’t seem to know what a bible is or even how to open it….
Really heavy lifting. Hannibal Lecter is more his alley. He can see a movie. Presumably he knows how to turn on a tv.
Maybe we are getting the words wrong. Good is bad, and bad is good. Taking money is Honorable - earning money is foolish. If a crowd will give theirs, then it's good to take it. Robbing hoodlum! I wonder what MAGA actually means?
Historical daily share price chart and data for Warner Bros Discovery since 2005 adjusted for splits and dividends. The latest closing stock price for Warner Bros Discovery as of May 13, 2024 is 8.38.
The all-time high Warner Bros Discovery stock closing price was 77.27 on March 19, 2021.
The Warner Bros Discovery 52-week high stock price is 14.76, which is 76.1% above the current share price.
The Warner Bros Discovery 52-week low stock price is 7.34, which is 12.4% below the current share price.
The average Warner Bros Discovery stock price for the last 52 weeks is 10.81.
That was then and this is now. Earlier West Coast producers were often ex theatre or arts trained with an interest not just in making profits but an understanding of the complex culture of show business. However, this kind of depraved corruption is an originating historical signature of Hollywood. It has always been a Wild West of grifters preying on dreamers. Your Dad made the right choice.
Shorting stocks is risky business. As Keynes said, the market(or stock) can stay crazy irrational longer than I can stay solvent. But sure, Tesla was awfully tempting.I haven't shorted for 25 years.
The only performance they measure is usually stock price.
The Fortune 500 has more than 7,200 board seats filled by less than 1,000 people. They all vote for big pay packages for each other. It is inbred greed.
It's all about who owns the most shares in the company. It's not at all unusual to find that the biggest shareholders are the CEO, Board members, and Top Management personnel. They collectively and most likely in collusion can set their own pay rates and bonuses and (from their perspective) who cares that the company is losing money? As long as they get theirs, do you think they care about the few million smalltime shareholders NOT getting decent dividends? And if their mismanagement leads to the company collapsing, they are in the ideal position to dump _their_ shares just before it's announced that the corporation will be declaring bankruptcy.
Institutional investors and mutual funds (for example, Vanguard ) own the majority of the shares of most companies. In the case of Warner, institutions own 61% of the shares with the general public owning about 30%. The CEO and Board do own a lot of shares, but usually just a small percentage of shares outstanding. If the CEO doesn't make Warner profitable very quickly, he will be fired by the Board via pressure by the large investors.
The shareholders of Vanguard are the customers who own the shares of its many mutual funds in 401Ks, etc. However, since Vanguard is the legal owner of Warner shares, the asset managers of the Vanguard mutual funds do the actual voting in election of the company board of directors, mergers, etc., not the customers. The customers have no voting rights at all, even though they are directly affected by the outcome! Not fair in my opinion. I have heard that Vanguard is considering making it possible for the customers to have a say by voting how the asset manager should vote in future meetings.
Isn't it fairly common that the LARGE majority of shareholders , say >50%, do NOT vote in most shareholder decisions? Which allows the roughly 30-40% of shares held by the CEO, Board, and Top Management to have virtual total control of _most_ large enterprises. (And let's not forget that bloc of controllers can bribe other large blocs to go along with the mismanagement.) [Money makes the world go 'round, go 'round...."]
Thanks for the info. [On this subject, I find that watching the 1956 film, "The Solid Gold Cadillac" is an entertaining take on how Big Biz operates. Worth watching!]
Respectfully, your article did not answer the question the title poses: "How to make $50 million a year while your corporation goes down the tubes." I still would like to know why shareholders approve enormous compensations for CEOs while the company is failing. How do CEOs winch their payment packages up so high in the first place? Whose arm are they twisting? How did we get here?
I would venture to guess that the majority of small shareholders aren’t aware of, or interested in, their voting rights in corporations. It takes a higher degree of attention, and most people aren’t that interested in the extra work it takes to actually follow companies’ voting schedules and participate in them.
Patricia Kreger: Perhaps it has nothing to do with "aren't that interested in the extra work". Perhaps it has to do with no time or energy after a day's work.
Shareholder action suits challenging Board proposals can be effective, but like any litigation are incredibly costly and time consuming, whereas defending them is on the company's dime. You could get a corporate law case book and read up on them if you were interested.
Shareholders do not set CEO pay. CEO pay is typically set by a subset of the company's Board of Directors through a contract with the CEO for his/her services. In this case, the Board chose a loser to be the CEO! I expect he will soon be fired unless he turns around Warner Brothers very quickly. Many companies have a non-binding advisory "say on pay" vote by the shareholders where they can give a "thumbs down" on CEO pay, but most companies just ignore it.
tim, the major shareholders of corporations often sit on the Boards, its very lucrative pay and they meet only a few times a year, so its a plum job, and they are responsible for stuff like CEO pay and vote on other major decisions.
My father-in-law served on the board of a major corporation. He enjoyed first class travel to meetings, stayed in the finest hotels, ate in the best restaurants. All paid for by the company. Yes, a plum job, but he did have to do a lot of paperwork outside of the meetings.
A CEO is like a quarterback of an NFL football team. Few have the skillset, and if the person is a "star" and wins the Super Bowl for the team or makes a lot of money for the company shareholders, most don't care if the person is paid millions of dollars a year (though most will bitch about it). A lousy quarterback can put the team in the cellar, and a lousy CEO can do immense damage to the company. CEO pay will continue to skyrocket like NFL quarterback salaries, IMHO. The solution in my mind is for the government to impose some type of limit on CEO pay (and quarterback pay?), or tax the hell on their pay.
Constance, my guess is Reich's article didnt answer the question that it raised because Reich very likely didnt write it, or even read it in draft. My guess is some freshman intern probably ghost writes his posts for him, cranking them out like sausages. Many of them are like this, cliche ridden and simplistic.
CNN is on television "everywhere".......a trip to China taught me how watched CNN is by the world. It is disgusting that it is in the current state of confusion and financial peril. This is what power and greed does, I guess. Sad, and wasteful.
If Zaslav wants to improve CNN, he needs to start with his anchors. Wolf Blitzer is among the worst in the business, and Jake Tapper is not far behind. There must be better, fresher, smarter, and more articulate talent waiting in the wings. Do something radical like a major overhaul to bring in classy, well informed, and not self-aggrandizing on-air personalities. And do it now before it's too late. If it's not already.
This is why we need #SpeakerCheney. Hear me out. Here is my open letter to Liz.Cheney;
Open letter to Liz Cheney:
Dear Rep. Cheney:
You can save us from Donald Trump and Putin Republicans (as they call themselves MAGA Republicans) by running for Speaker of the House, It only happens if ALL the Democrats and a couple of Republicans vote for you in a bipartisan effort to save America. Many Democrats have opposed your previous positions.
But you only have to bring a couple needed bipartisan positions that the majority of Americans will agree on to get All of Democrats and a few Republicans to become Speaker of the House.
1. Support eliminating the National Debt Limit. Tell the world we always pay our debt. We have to have a balanced budget, and bring down our National Debt. We should use the proposed tax on the wealthiest of Americans holding more than 50 Million in assets. The additional tax will be used solely for reducing the national debt. If we do that, markets will soar.
2. Support both the Ukrainian war effort and solving the Middle East conflict in Israel for both Israelis and Palestinians. By eliminating the National Debt Limit and the additional tax we can support these efforts.
3. Bring both Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan fashion to pass an Immigration Bill.
4. Stop the Putin Republicans and Donald Trump from destroying America’s democracy.
You have to get buy-in from Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and every Democrat in the House. If it can’t be done, the whole body of House Democrats will have failed America, with little hope for America and the rest of the World.
That’s not possible. She’s no longer a representative. Also, she may be anti-Trump but she’s still a Republican and as far as I can tell, Republicans aren’t interested in any bipartisan solution to any problem. They want power at all cost, even if it means they are subservient to an individual who wouldn’t share it with them if he ever gets his hands on it again anyway. That’s the crazy part. Unless it’s just money and (at least) the appearance of power that makes every one of them pretend that this is politics as usual, I suppose that’s enough. Also, as Jon Stewart cheerfully illustrated last evening on The Daily Show, as lawmakers they have unrestricted opportunities to practice insider trading. That’s a significant form of power. And they don’t have to go to prison for it, because that’s what capitalism is all about…an ‘open market’ (eye roll).
Anyone, including Trump can be Speaker of the House. I don’t agree that should be possible, but Liz Cheney, private citizen, can become Speaker of the House. I hope that change that in the Constitution- Only a duly elected representative should be allowed to be Speaker of the House. What I want is for her to clean house of #PutinRepublicans.
I sit corrected, was not aware of that! That’s an eye opener for me. Has there ever been a speaker elected who wasn’t a representative? That’s wild to me.
I looked it up and you’re right, anyone could be elected that isn’t a representative. Apparently that’s never happened though, as the majority party in the House has heretofore always elected a Speaker. That is interesting though, Jeff. Learn something new every day, I guess, and I just did while the day is still young.
Liz is not only a Republican, but she is the worst of the Republicans, a MAGAt without Trump, she shares and has voted for all of the illiberal, fascist, corporate, racist policies that epitomize MAGAtry.
Rachel Maddow had here on her show, and told her to her face, that she did not agree with Liz on anything, but respected her standing by the constitution. That alone is not enough to idolize her.
“The Constitution does not explicitly require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every speaker thus far has been, and as a member the speaker also represents their district and retains the right to vote” and also:
“In fact, the very first Speaker elected after parties actually existed in the U.S. (the 4th Congress) came from the minority party. The Democratic-Republican Party won a majority of House seats that election, and the Federalist Party won a minority of seats.”
Thanks Terry Franzman, now that makes 2 things I’ve learned today and it’s only 3:19 a.m. :)
Parricia, Liz is not only a Republican, but she is the worst of the Republicans, a MAGAt without Trump, she shares and has voted for all of the illiberal, fascist, corporate, racist policies that epitomize MAGAtry.
Rachel Maddow had here on her show, and told her to her face, that she did not agree with Liz on anything, but respected her standing by the constitution. That alone is not enough to idolize her/
I hope that CNN does not disappear as it is one of the few remaining mainstream media outlets that reports truthfully. It’s hard not to feel paranoid that these fascist super wealthy few are not actively attempting to kill a free yet fair press. Think Elon Musk and Twitter. We need a firmly progressive tax structure that takes away the incentive for people to engage in these activities which are antithetical to true free market capitalism. We also need mechanisms to correct for the vast wealth stolen since the 1980’s and also for the super-rich wealth girding in the form of shares of stock. We must tax based on average market value over the fiscal year. These things can be done but it will require a much greater effort on the part of democrats to explain and educate. The old guard democratic leaders don’t have the will because they themselves have dipped into the game of personal enrichment by trading on their big money connections. This is a frightening moment in history and obscene greed is at the heart of the forces driving a move to fascist authoritarianism.
CNN Truthful. CNN has been known for yeas as Fox lite.
And it got worse when they hired the right wing wag Chris Licht, and the ensuing uproar got him fired, then they fired the outspoken Don Lemon, who is gay, for being a misogynist, He said Nikki Haley was past her prime. LOL, and CNN is misogynist central.
Particularly galling was several years ago when newspapers reported that the CEO of a health insurance company “earned” $100 000 000 the previous year.
Hopefully, he eventually gets the boot, but given that they’re still willing to pay him so much despite dwindling viewership and stock prices, I have my doubts.
Some of his buddies are the Murdochs and John Malone. Bringing Chris Licht and the Trump fiasco was likely at their behest. Zaslav and Roger Ailes worked at the same Eastern Ohio TV station back in the 80's
CNN is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, which is owned by Advance Publications, Inc. is a privately held American media company owned by the families of Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the sons of company founder Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr.
Donald Edward Newhouse (born 1929) is an American businessman. He owns Advance Publications, founded by his father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., in 1922, whose properties include Condé Nast (publisher of such magazines as Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker), dozens of newspapers across the US (including The Star-Ledger, The Plain Dealer, and The Oregonian), cable company Bright House Networks and a controlling stake in Discovery Communications. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of $11 billion as of April 2024.[1] He resides in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Newhouse
Bill, did you notice the 8% next to Advance Pub?? It refers to the percentage of stock they own. IE 92% is owned by ?? I'll leave that to you to do some more research on.
Thanks, I am not going to do research for others, unless I get paid :)
You missed m point, that corporations are owned by corporations that own corporations, The big fish swallows the little fish and is in turn swallowed by a bigger fish.
However if you look at the Board of Directors, you will see the same people sitting on different boards of different industries or within the same industry and many of the boards are themselves CEO's and major shareholders.
ComCast which owns NBCUniversal, which owns MSNBC (Microfsoft sold out long ago), is totally right wing.
Robert Might I suggest that you and others carefully craft a piece that details, just what will happen if the Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, leftists, etc give the finger to President Biden, because they haven't got what they wanted, or are upset with Biden's Mid East policies, They apparently believe that a protest vote for RFK Jr, Jill Stein, Cornell West, etc will have no consequences, other than shoving it to the "man", an Go Brandon, that maybe the Dem's next time will learn a lesson and give them what they want and demand.
They don't seem to understand,nor do they want to, that a protest vote will only result in a Trump win, and 2024 will be the last free election ever. Oh we will have elections, like they do in Hungary, Russia and Africa and even Iran and Central Asia, meaningless charades
None of the third party candidates have the clout, the expertise, the money backing to affect change, and worse they don't have any reps much less control of Congress which makes the laws and policies of the nation.
Who are they going to staff the Cabinets with. You just can't pick a friend in the movement, they have to be approved by the Senate, and the important, really important cabinets, need leaders with some knowledge, expertise and connections.
However if all of these recalcitrant sit on their hands, vote Third Party, they will reap the crop that they have sown. Trump is a racist, Trump is owned by his billionaire donors, Trump will sell out the USA to Russia and Arab oil. And for those of the Ummah, who are loyal first and foremost to the Ummah, Trump is Bibi's BFF and a brother from another Mother,
I am sure that Bibi has played the odds and that he can hang on another six months till November then his dictatorial reign in Israel is assured,, and Gaza will be cleared and cleaned out, and the property sold to real estate speculators. Jared Kushner will get his seaside condo's yet, and the Muslims who sat out the election in protest of Biden, can only thank themselves.
This is just another example of the need for regulation in so many ways. Employees being underpaid while the CEO’s make millions. Unsafe working conditions. The companies won’t do this themselves.
I ran the numbers on CEO pay verse wealth and income inequality. When the average worker gets a 3% increase or less per year and the CEO gets 19-25% increase per year income and wealth inequality sky rocket. A flat tax doesnt fix it. A progressive tax doesnt fix it. The only thing that reversed wealth and income inequality was forcing CEO pay to grow at a rate LOWER than that of the average workers pay increase.
There must be a board of directors. What on earth are they doing? Were it not for the inertia created by the parasitic legal profession these people are ripe for tortious picking.
CNN is a privately owned Company, see my posts above, Owned by the Newhouse Brothers, there is no Board of directors, the following is a list offiicer, who are hired and fired by the brothers Newhouse
Freedom or Fascism that is our choice. Another example of the deep imbalance in America. The rich get richer and the rest of us pay and get poorer. Reagan tax cuts, Bush tax cuts, Trump tax cuts - handouts/welfare/give aways to the wealthy and corporations and to hell with the rest of us - EVEN his blind and deaf supporters that he cons every day. And CNN refuses to stand up for Democracy and Freedom and against Fascism and Tyranny!
Giving credence to both sides of an issue is stupidity unless both sides argue based on provable facts. With the MAGAts, almost all their positions are based on nonsensical BS. And any interviewer/journalist should not let their interviewee get away with BS.
David Zaslav is an especially egregious example of an executive who awards himself an enormous pay package and returns zero value in exchange. He has managed to destroy one of the most storied names in Hollywood—Warner Brothers—in exchange for paying himself ever increasingly higher compensation.
WBD has laid off thousands of people, while this clown continues to rake in the bux and live like a king. He brings no value to anything and swans around Hollywood like he’s God’s gift to show biz. The French Revolution had a point, ya know.
"egregious example of an executive who awards himself an enormous pay package and returns zero value in exchange." Like half of congress?
And esp the significantly odorous, histrionic "herselves" that just plain hate women but love acting puffy and sexual with people like
Mitch? DJT? Rudolph? Gross. Female misogynists are the worst. Tho.
You sound male.
Half is being generous!
Half?
Trumponomics, better known as the Art of The Steal. I seem to remember that executive pay was tied to performance, but maybe I only imagined that.
I can see the next grift coming from trump: MAGA I’m really your Robin-hood…..
Robin Hood ‽ Yesterday he was campaigning to be Hannibal Lecter!
🤣🤣🤣
With Fava beans and a nice chainti.
Dannys, Trump would be in favor of it, if he could actually comprehend what it is. I am guessing Trump's entorage would love it and the cult would totally be on board. If they actually did a Robin Hood, it would be a 180 because now, they are staling from the poor and giving to the rich.
Robin Hood? His fans think he is Jesus.
His foes think he is the antichrist.
His evangelical fearmongering fans are the ones who have been warning of the antichrist for 100+ years! I don't think most of the left believes in an antichrist. They have said when he comes, the people will get hoodwinked and think he is a god. This is their stuff. Not any leftwingers I know. Per their definition of the "Antichrist," they are the ones doing the false god worship right? So, per their definition...
LOL. Let’s see, he would have to know who Christ is, what an antichrist is. Given that he doesn’t seem to know what a bible is or even how to open it….
Really heavy lifting. Hannibal Lecter is more his alley. He can see a movie. Presumably he knows how to turn on a tv.
Maybe we are getting the words wrong. Good is bad, and bad is good. Taking money is Honorable - earning money is foolish. If a crowd will give theirs, then it's good to take it. Robbing hoodlum! I wonder what MAGA actually means?
I think we all know what MAGA means. You will have to hold your nose and have a bucket handy but it is fully describable. The truth is brutal.
Somebody makes money shorting the stock.
Historical daily share price chart and data for Warner Bros Discovery since 2005 adjusted for splits and dividends. The latest closing stock price for Warner Bros Discovery as of May 13, 2024 is 8.38.
The all-time high Warner Bros Discovery stock closing price was 77.27 on March 19, 2021.
The Warner Bros Discovery 52-week high stock price is 14.76, which is 76.1% above the current share price.
The Warner Bros Discovery 52-week low stock price is 7.34, which is 12.4% below the current share price.
The average Warner Bros Discovery stock price for the last 52 weeks is 10.81.
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDAQ/WBD/short-interest/#google_vignette
The first Warner Theater was in my hometown. https://www.visitlawrencecounty.com/members/historic-warner-cascade-theatre-museum/
They hired a lot of local people, including some of my relatives. Family folklore is they offered my dad a job in Hollywood and he turned them down.
That was then and this is now. Earlier West Coast producers were often ex theatre or arts trained with an interest not just in making profits but an understanding of the complex culture of show business. However, this kind of depraved corruption is an originating historical signature of Hollywood. It has always been a Wild West of grifters preying on dreamers. Your Dad made the right choice.
Bad investment. Shorting stock -- limited upside reward, unlimited downside risk.
Shorting stocks is risky business. As Keynes said, the market(or stock) can stay crazy irrational longer than I can stay solvent. But sure, Tesla was awfully tempting.I haven't shorted for 25 years.
No risk. When you're betting on inside information.
Risk of heavy fine and a prison sentence.
Some use butterfly spreads and straddles and similar strategies to limit risk.
...having access to inside info doesn't hurt either.
Performance is more a function of luck that the overall economy is doing well.
Used to be?
The only performance they measure is usually stock price.
The Fortune 500 has more than 7,200 board seats filled by less than 1,000 people. They all vote for big pay packages for each other. It is inbred greed.
That's so pre- Reagan!
Yes, and I think we're ar that "point" now. The increasingly rich, depcrepid class needs a "reset".
Trumpian!
It's all about who owns the most shares in the company. It's not at all unusual to find that the biggest shareholders are the CEO, Board members, and Top Management personnel. They collectively and most likely in collusion can set their own pay rates and bonuses and (from their perspective) who cares that the company is losing money? As long as they get theirs, do you think they care about the few million smalltime shareholders NOT getting decent dividends? And if their mismanagement leads to the company collapsing, they are in the ideal position to dump _their_ shares just before it's announced that the corporation will be declaring bankruptcy.
Welcome to this New Age of Robber Barons.
Institutional investors and mutual funds (for example, Vanguard ) own the majority of the shares of most companies. In the case of Warner, institutions own 61% of the shares with the general public owning about 30%. The CEO and Board do own a lot of shares, but usually just a small percentage of shares outstanding. If the CEO doesn't make Warner profitable very quickly, he will be fired by the Board via pressure by the large investors.
Interesting, thanks Tim. But who are the major shareholders of Vanguard?
The shareholders of Vanguard are the customers who own the shares of its many mutual funds in 401Ks, etc. However, since Vanguard is the legal owner of Warner shares, the asset managers of the Vanguard mutual funds do the actual voting in election of the company board of directors, mergers, etc., not the customers. The customers have no voting rights at all, even though they are directly affected by the outcome! Not fair in my opinion. I have heard that Vanguard is considering making it possible for the customers to have a say by voting how the asset manager should vote in future meetings.
Isn't it fairly common that the LARGE majority of shareholders , say >50%, do NOT vote in most shareholder decisions? Which allows the roughly 30-40% of shares held by the CEO, Board, and Top Management to have virtual total control of _most_ large enterprises. (And let's not forget that bloc of controllers can bribe other large blocs to go along with the mismanagement.) [Money makes the world go 'round, go 'round...."]
Anyone who owns more than 10% of shares is considered a "principal shareholder" and subject to special rules since they exert considerable influence over the affairs of the company. See https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/principal-shareholder.asp#:~:text=and%20cash%20appropriately.-,The%20Bottom%20Line,in%20a%20company's%20management%20process.for an interesting discussion on this subject. It is possible for the CEO, Board members, and senior management to own more than 10%, but I don't think this is the usual case, in my opinion. For Warner, only Vanguard owns more than 10%, all other shareholders, including "insiders" (CEO ,etc.) are at 9% or less. See https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WBD/holders
Thanks for the info. [On this subject, I find that watching the 1956 film, "The Solid Gold Cadillac" is an entertaining take on how Big Biz operates. Worth watching!]
Thank you, Tim
Good point, Captain.
Respectfully, your article did not answer the question the title poses: "How to make $50 million a year while your corporation goes down the tubes." I still would like to know why shareholders approve enormous compensations for CEOs while the company is failing. How do CEOs winch their payment packages up so high in the first place? Whose arm are they twisting? How did we get here?
I would venture to guess that the majority of small shareholders aren’t aware of, or interested in, their voting rights in corporations. It takes a higher degree of attention, and most people aren’t that interested in the extra work it takes to actually follow companies’ voting schedules and participate in them.
Patricia Kreger: Perhaps it has nothing to do with "aren't that interested in the extra work". Perhaps it has to do with no time or energy after a day's work.
Patricia,
Shareholder action suits challenging Board proposals can be effective, but like any litigation are incredibly costly and time consuming, whereas defending them is on the company's dime. You could get a corporate law case book and read up on them if you were interested.
Shareholders do not set CEO pay. CEO pay is typically set by a subset of the company's Board of Directors through a contract with the CEO for his/her services. In this case, the Board chose a loser to be the CEO! I expect he will soon be fired unless he turns around Warner Brothers very quickly. Many companies have a non-binding advisory "say on pay" vote by the shareholders where they can give a "thumbs down" on CEO pay, but most companies just ignore it.
tim, the major shareholders of corporations often sit on the Boards, its very lucrative pay and they meet only a few times a year, so its a plum job, and they are responsible for stuff like CEO pay and vote on other major decisions.
My father-in-law served on the board of a major corporation. He enjoyed first class travel to meetings, stayed in the finest hotels, ate in the best restaurants. All paid for by the company. Yes, a plum job, but he did have to do a lot of paperwork outside of the meetings.
A CEO is like a quarterback of an NFL football team. Few have the skillset, and if the person is a "star" and wins the Super Bowl for the team or makes a lot of money for the company shareholders, most don't care if the person is paid millions of dollars a year (though most will bitch about it). A lousy quarterback can put the team in the cellar, and a lousy CEO can do immense damage to the company. CEO pay will continue to skyrocket like NFL quarterback salaries, IMHO. The solution in my mind is for the government to impose some type of limit on CEO pay (and quarterback pay?), or tax the hell on their pay.
Constance, my guess is Reich's article didnt answer the question that it raised because Reich very likely didnt write it, or even read it in draft. My guess is some freshman intern probably ghost writes his posts for him, cranking them out like sausages. Many of them are like this, cliche ridden and simplistic.
Are you just a grumpy old man or what? Why are you here Robert?
s howard, I dont appreciate your ad hominem garbage. Take it elsewhere please.
CNN is on television "everywhere".......a trip to China taught me how watched CNN is by the world. It is disgusting that it is in the current state of confusion and financial peril. This is what power and greed does, I guess. Sad, and wasteful.
If Zaslav wants to improve CNN, he needs to start with his anchors. Wolf Blitzer is among the worst in the business, and Jake Tapper is not far behind. There must be better, fresher, smarter, and more articulate talent waiting in the wings. Do something radical like a major overhaul to bring in classy, well informed, and not self-aggrandizing on-air personalities. And do it now before it's too late. If it's not already.
You would have to pay the “better, fresher, smarter, and more articulate” anchor.
If they hadn’t spent all that cash on their incompetent CEO, they could have poached some of that MSNBC talent.
This is why we need #SpeakerCheney. Hear me out. Here is my open letter to Liz.Cheney;
Open letter to Liz Cheney:
Dear Rep. Cheney:
You can save us from Donald Trump and Putin Republicans (as they call themselves MAGA Republicans) by running for Speaker of the House, It only happens if ALL the Democrats and a couple of Republicans vote for you in a bipartisan effort to save America. Many Democrats have opposed your previous positions.
But you only have to bring a couple needed bipartisan positions that the majority of Americans will agree on to get All of Democrats and a few Republicans to become Speaker of the House.
1. Support eliminating the National Debt Limit. Tell the world we always pay our debt. We have to have a balanced budget, and bring down our National Debt. We should use the proposed tax on the wealthiest of Americans holding more than 50 Million in assets. The additional tax will be used solely for reducing the national debt. If we do that, markets will soar.
2. Support both the Ukrainian war effort and solving the Middle East conflict in Israel for both Israelis and Palestinians. By eliminating the National Debt Limit and the additional tax we can support these efforts.
3. Bring both Republicans and Democrats in a bipartisan fashion to pass an Immigration Bill.
4. Stop the Putin Republicans and Donald Trump from destroying America’s democracy.
You have to get buy-in from Nancy Pelosi, Hakeem Jeffries, and every Democrat in the House. If it can’t be done, the whole body of House Democrats will have failed America, with little hope for America and the rest of the World.
Let’s give #MoscowMarge her wish;
A new Republican Speaker of The House.
That’s not possible. She’s no longer a representative. Also, she may be anti-Trump but she’s still a Republican and as far as I can tell, Republicans aren’t interested in any bipartisan solution to any problem. They want power at all cost, even if it means they are subservient to an individual who wouldn’t share it with them if he ever gets his hands on it again anyway. That’s the crazy part. Unless it’s just money and (at least) the appearance of power that makes every one of them pretend that this is politics as usual, I suppose that’s enough. Also, as Jon Stewart cheerfully illustrated last evening on The Daily Show, as lawmakers they have unrestricted opportunities to practice insider trading. That’s a significant form of power. And they don’t have to go to prison for it, because that’s what capitalism is all about…an ‘open market’ (eye roll).
Anyone, including Trump can be Speaker of the House. I don’t agree that should be possible, but Liz Cheney, private citizen, can become Speaker of the House. I hope that change that in the Constitution- Only a duly elected representative should be allowed to be Speaker of the House. What I want is for her to clean house of #PutinRepublicans.
I sit corrected, was not aware of that! That’s an eye opener for me. Has there ever been a speaker elected who wasn’t a representative? That’s wild to me.
I looked it up and you’re right, anyone could be elected that isn’t a representative. Apparently that’s never happened though, as the majority party in the House has heretofore always elected a Speaker. That is interesting though, Jeff. Learn something new every day, I guess, and I just did while the day is still young.
And now so did everyone else who reads this. :)
So why should we change the Constitution ?
Patricia I repeat my comment to Liz above ICYMI.
Liz is not only a Republican, but she is the worst of the Republicans, a MAGAt without Trump, she shares and has voted for all of the illiberal, fascist, corporate, racist policies that epitomize MAGAtry.
Rachel Maddow had here on her show, and told her to her face, that she did not agree with Liz on anything, but respected her standing by the constitution. That alone is not enough to idolize her.
When was the last time someone not an elected Rep was Speaker of the House?
According to Wikipedia via Google:
“The Constitution does not explicitly require the speaker to be an incumbent member of the House of Representatives, although every speaker thus far has been, and as a member the speaker also represents their district and retains the right to vote” and also:
“In fact, the very first Speaker elected after parties actually existed in the U.S. (the 4th Congress) came from the minority party. The Democratic-Republican Party won a majority of House seats that election, and the Federalist Party won a minority of seats.”
Thanks Terry Franzman, now that makes 2 things I’ve learned today and it’s only 3:19 a.m. :)
I think never.
Parricia, Liz is not only a Republican, but she is the worst of the Republicans, a MAGAt without Trump, she shares and has voted for all of the illiberal, fascist, corporate, racist policies that epitomize MAGAtry.
Rachel Maddow had here on her show, and told her to her face, that she did not agree with Liz on anything, but respected her standing by the constitution. That alone is not enough to idolize her/
Really? Still?
I hope that CNN does not disappear as it is one of the few remaining mainstream media outlets that reports truthfully. It’s hard not to feel paranoid that these fascist super wealthy few are not actively attempting to kill a free yet fair press. Think Elon Musk and Twitter. We need a firmly progressive tax structure that takes away the incentive for people to engage in these activities which are antithetical to true free market capitalism. We also need mechanisms to correct for the vast wealth stolen since the 1980’s and also for the super-rich wealth girding in the form of shares of stock. We must tax based on average market value over the fiscal year. These things can be done but it will require a much greater effort on the part of democrats to explain and educate. The old guard democratic leaders don’t have the will because they themselves have dipped into the game of personal enrichment by trading on their big money connections. This is a frightening moment in history and obscene greed is at the heart of the forces driving a move to fascist authoritarianism.
CNN Truthful. CNN has been known for yeas as Fox lite.
And it got worse when they hired the right wing wag Chris Licht, and the ensuing uproar got him fired, then they fired the outspoken Don Lemon, who is gay, for being a misogynist, He said Nikki Haley was past her prime. LOL, and CNN is misogynist central.
Please don’t say this CEO “earned” 26% more pay than last year. It was given to him. He didn’t earn it.
Howard. Minnesota
Thanks. for that enlightenment. Now to get the corporate media to use the term, given, not earned.
Particularly galling was several years ago when newspapers reported that the CEO of a health insurance company “earned” $100 000 000 the previous year.
Hopefully, he eventually gets the boot, but given that they’re still willing to pay him so much despite dwindling viewership and stock prices, I have my doubts.
Some of his buddies are the Murdochs and John Malone. Bringing Chris Licht and the Trump fiasco was likely at their behest. Zaslav and Roger Ailes worked at the same Eastern Ohio TV station back in the 80's
Thanks for that information, Terry. Good to know.
Terry, yep, an old white boys' club/network.
Terry, google is your friend if one is curious.
CNN is owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, which is owned by Advance Publications, Inc. is a privately held American media company owned by the families of Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the sons of company founder Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr.
Donald Edward Newhouse (born 1929) is an American businessman. He owns Advance Publications, founded by his father, Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., in 1922, whose properties include Condé Nast (publisher of such magazines as Vogue, Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker), dozens of newspapers across the US (including The Star-Ledger, The Plain Dealer, and The Oregonian), cable company Bright House Networks and a controlling stake in Discovery Communications. According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of $11 billion as of April 2024.[1] He resides in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Newhouse
Bill, did you notice the 8% next to Advance Pub?? It refers to the percentage of stock they own. IE 92% is owned by ?? I'll leave that to you to do some more research on.
8% is majority corporate stockholder.
Thanks, I am not going to do research for others, unless I get paid :)
You missed m point, that corporations are owned by corporations that own corporations, The big fish swallows the little fish and is in turn swallowed by a bigger fish.
However if you look at the Board of Directors, you will see the same people sitting on different boards of different industries or within the same industry and many of the boards are themselves CEO's and major shareholders.
ComCast which owns NBCUniversal, which owns MSNBC (Microfsoft sold out long ago), is totally right wing.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/WBD/holders.
Robert Might I suggest that you and others carefully craft a piece that details, just what will happen if the Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, leftists, etc give the finger to President Biden, because they haven't got what they wanted, or are upset with Biden's Mid East policies, They apparently believe that a protest vote for RFK Jr, Jill Stein, Cornell West, etc will have no consequences, other than shoving it to the "man", an Go Brandon, that maybe the Dem's next time will learn a lesson and give them what they want and demand.
They don't seem to understand,nor do they want to, that a protest vote will only result in a Trump win, and 2024 will be the last free election ever. Oh we will have elections, like they do in Hungary, Russia and Africa and even Iran and Central Asia, meaningless charades
None of the third party candidates have the clout, the expertise, the money backing to affect change, and worse they don't have any reps much less control of Congress which makes the laws and policies of the nation.
Who are they going to staff the Cabinets with. You just can't pick a friend in the movement, they have to be approved by the Senate, and the important, really important cabinets, need leaders with some knowledge, expertise and connections.
However if all of these recalcitrant sit on their hands, vote Third Party, they will reap the crop that they have sown. Trump is a racist, Trump is owned by his billionaire donors, Trump will sell out the USA to Russia and Arab oil. And for those of the Ummah, who are loyal first and foremost to the Ummah, Trump is Bibi's BFF and a brother from another Mother,
I am sure that Bibi has played the odds and that he can hang on another six months till November then his dictatorial reign in Israel is assured,, and Gaza will be cleared and cleaned out, and the property sold to real estate speculators. Jared Kushner will get his seaside condo's yet, and the Muslims who sat out the election in protest of Biden, can only thank themselves.
William you said it all🙌🏻
This is just another example of the need for regulation in so many ways. Employees being underpaid while the CEO’s make millions. Unsafe working conditions. The companies won’t do this themselves.
100% agree!
I ran the numbers on CEO pay verse wealth and income inequality. When the average worker gets a 3% increase or less per year and the CEO gets 19-25% increase per year income and wealth inequality sky rocket. A flat tax doesnt fix it. A progressive tax doesnt fix it. The only thing that reversed wealth and income inequality was forcing CEO pay to grow at a rate LOWER than that of the average workers pay increase.
There must be a board of directors. What on earth are they doing? Were it not for the inertia created by the parasitic legal profession these people are ripe for tortious picking.
I’m loving the sound of being “ripe for tortious picking”!
CNN is a privately owned Company, see my posts above, Owned by the Newhouse Brothers, there is no Board of directors, the following is a list offiicer, who are hired and fired by the brothers Newhouse
Sir Mark Thompson (Chairman and CEO)
David Leavy (COO)
Michael Bass (EVP of Programming, CNN-US)
Brad Ferrer (EVP/CFO)
Amy Entelis (EVP)
Ken Jautz (EVP, CNN-US and HLN)
Andrew Morse (EVP/Chief Digital Officer)
Gee, I wonder who's making themselves rich betting on insider info? David Zaslav is not the only greedy pig in the game, but he may be the biggest.
Freedom or Fascism that is our choice. Another example of the deep imbalance in America. The rich get richer and the rest of us pay and get poorer. Reagan tax cuts, Bush tax cuts, Trump tax cuts - handouts/welfare/give aways to the wealthy and corporations and to hell with the rest of us - EVEN his blind and deaf supporters that he cons every day. And CNN refuses to stand up for Democracy and Freedom and against Fascism and Tyranny!
Giving credence to both sides of an issue is stupidity unless both sides argue based on provable facts. With the MAGAts, almost all their positions are based on nonsensical BS. And any interviewer/journalist should not let their interviewee get away with BS.