Based on the success and all the news surrounding Disney, its no secret that the Mouse House CEO Bob Iger is being compensated well. In 2018, he got a raise — and not a raise normal human beings would be satisfied with. His compensation was upped 80% and reached $65.6 million. That said, Abigail Disney came forward and said that this paycheck is “insane”.
Disney recently spoke about this at the first annual Fast Company Impact Council last week. She was joined by Columbia University associate professor Howard W. Buffett and Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism founder and CEO Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild. They discussed practicing “humane capitalism” and Disney unpacked her thoughts on Iger.
A study by Equilar said that Igers compensation was 1,424 times that of the median Disney employee. According to Fast Company, Disney said at the event: “I like Bob Iger. Let me be very clear: I think hes a good man. But I think hes allowing himself to go down a road that is the road everyone is going down. She continued, “When he got his bonus last year, I did the math, and I figured out that he could have given personally, out of pocket, a 15% raise to everyone who worked at Disneyland, and still walked away with $10 million. So theres a point at which theres just too much going around the top of the system into this class of people who–Im sorry this is radical–have too much money. There is such a thing.”
Disney has been outspoken when it comes to social responsibility and things of the sort. She is also a member of the Patriotic Millionaires, which advocates for higher taxes on the wealthy. In a lengthy Twitter thread, she continued her thoughts about Igers pay and the pay disparities within the Disney system.
“Let me very clear. I like Bob Iger. I do NOT speak for my family but only for myself,” she wrote. “Other than owning shares (not that many) I have no more say in what happens there than anyone else. But by any objective measure a pay ratio over a thousand is insane.”
She adds, “To brush aside criticism of the low wage you pay workers at the company by saying you pay more than the Federal Minimum Wage and that you provide opportunities for education is a dodge. We all know the Federal Minimum is too low to live on. So why must we, at a company thats more profitable than its ever been, be paying anything so close to least the law allows at all?”
Disney reiterates that Iger has done great things with the company, but questions why the company doesnt shift profits to some people other than those at the top. She goes on to unload a lot of information about salary and Disney. Read the tweets below.
Let me very clear. I like Bob Iger. I do NOT speak for my family but only for myself. Other than owning shares (not that many) I have no more say in what happens there than anyone else. But by any objective measure a pay ratio over a thousand is insane. https://t.co/O34OjXd6rr
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
To brush aside criticism of the low wage you pay workers at the company by saying you pay more than the Federal Minimum Wage and that you provide opportunities for education is a dodge. We all know the Federal Minimum is too low to live on. So why must we, at a company thats…
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
More profitable than its ever been, be paying anything so close to least the law allows at all??? Pointing out the incongruity of pay at the top and pay at the bottom provokes a reaction because it so violates of our innate sense of fairness it is impossible not to wince
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
What on earth would be wrong with shifting some of the profits—the fruits of these employees labor— to some folks other than those at the top? Im not saying iger doesnt deserve a bonus. He most certainly does. He is brilliant and has led the company brilliantly
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
And yes I am aware that 125K employees got a 1,000 bonus after the tax bill was passed. That was how you spent 125,000M of your windfall. You also spent 3.6 billion on share buy backs. Seriously, are you kidding??
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
Its nice to give a bonus to a person pulling down a salary. Everybody loves that. You know what everybody loves more than that? A raise. And if the tax cut makes a bonus possible and that tax cut is permanent doesnt it stand to reason you could have given a raise instead?
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
And whom did that buy back benefit? Well, you, and lots of people at the high end of the company. And lots of other wealthy people. 85% of stocks are owned by the richest 10% of Americans so congrats, you just deepened wealth inequality.
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
There are just over 200K employees at Disney. If you took half that 65 M bonus, along with half the very generous bonuses everyone else up in the C suites got, I am quite certain you could move significant resources down the line to more evenly share in the great success
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
Im sure the math is complicated. And no one is complaining about pay at the middle and upper levels of the company. So lets say you just raised the salaries of those in the bottom quartile. That would be 50K employees who would get, on average, a $740 bump from
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
Igers bonus alone. That alone would be pretty dramatic. Then add in 50% of the rest of the upper tier bonuses. Now we are talking about a DRAMATIC change in living conditions for people who up til now worked full time and yet were living at or below the poverty line
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
What difference would it make in the quality of life for those that gave up half their bonus? None. Zero. Maybe they cant afford a third home. Or another boat. Im not being facetious here. Thats the kind of sacrifice wed be talking about for high level execs.
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
At the 65M dollar bonus range we are talking about something ridiculous. If you send your kid to an expensive school and we cut your bonus in half, gosh youd give up 740 years of her education. 7.5 $5M yachts you cant buy. 3.5 $10M jets.
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
And please dont use the education dodge. Its nice that you offer education, it truly is. But when you say that in response to the question of what you are paying your housekeepers and janitors you are saying that people earn minimum wage are only in that position
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisney) April 21, 2019
Because they havent been educated enough. You are shifting blame to them. What if every one of your minimum wage workers took you up on that education opportunity? Thats if they have time to do so since they probably cant afford the necessary childcare or transportation.
— Abigail Disney (@abigaildisneRead More – Source
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