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5 most overpaid Hollywood CEOs

By Dan Selcke

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 27: (L to R) Chief executive officer and chairman of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger and Mickey Mouse look on before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), November 27, 2017 in New York City. Disney is marking the company's 60th anniversary as a listed company on the NYSE. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 27: (L to R) Chief executive officer and chairman of The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger and Mickey Mouse look on before ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), November 27, 2017 in New York City. Disney is marking the company's 60th anniversary as a listed company on the NYSE. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 18: Robert Iger attends the Stella McCartney “Get Back” Capsule Collection and documentary release of Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” at The Jim Henson Company on November 18, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 18: Robert Iger attends the Stella McCartney “Get Back” Capsule Collection and documentary release of Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” at The Jim Henson Company on November 18, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images) /

Bob Iger, CEO of Disney

We can’t have a list of extravagantly paid executives without mentioning Disney. CEO Bob Iger has received $195 million in the last five years. And he left the company for most of 2022, during which time he was replaced by Bob Chapek. That didn’t last, and Iger was reinstated last November.

According to Variety, Iger took home $46 million in 2021; that includes a base salary of $3 million and a cash bonus of $23 million. Now that Iger is back at the company after being away for about a year, he has to start at the bottom with a meager base salary of $1 million, plus a $1 million bonus and an additional amount of money up to $25 million if Disney stock hits certain benchmarks. You’ve gotta start somewhere.

Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch attend the “TIME 100 Gala, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People In The World” at Jazz at Lincoln Centerin New York City. �� LAN (Photo by Lars Niki/Corbis via Getty Images)
Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch attend the “TIME 100 Gala, TIME’s 100 Most Influential People In The World” at Jazz at Lincoln Centerin New York City. �� LAN (Photo by Lars Niki/Corbis via Getty Images) /

Rupert and Lachlan Murdock, leaders of Fox Corp

Rupert Murdock is the chairman of Fox Corp, which includes Fox News Media, Fox Sports and the Fox broadcast network. He’s also the chairman of News Corp, which owns outlets like The Wall Street Journal. His son Lachlan Murdoch is Fox’s executive chairman and CEO. Rupert Murdoch received $175 million over the past five years while Lachlan Murdock received $171 million.

The Murdocks have actually had their pay reduced in recent years. In 2021, Rupert received $31 million and Lachlan $28 million. But in 2022, they received $18 million and $22 million respectively. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this was due in part to cuts in non-equity incentive plan compensation, which I remind you is a wordy way of saying “bonuses.” For both Murdochs, they went from getting $10.5 million apiece in bonuses to $6.3 million.

Fun fact: the Murdoch family is often cited as one of the main inspirations behind the money-obsessed monster people on the HBO show Succession. Go figure.

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 02: Joseph Ianniello and Jennifer Ianniello arrive at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center on December 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 02: Joseph Ianniello and Jennifer Ianniello arrive at the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors at The Kennedy Center on December 02, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images) /

Joseph Ianniello, former CEO of CBS

Here’s a bit of a weird one. Joseph Ianniello made $153 million in the past five years, and he got most of it because he stopped being CEO.

Ianniello was the CEO of CBS when it was about to merge with Viacom to become ViacomCBS, also known as Paramount Global. Why is a company formed by merging CBS with Viacom named Paramount Global? Because the corporate world makes no sense; just look at how much they pay their executives. Anyway, according to THR, Ianniello’s contract stipulated that he would be in line for a bonus if he wasn’t made the CEO of the newly formed company. That honor eventually went to Bob Bakish. So Ianniello left the company, and was paid $125 million on the way out.

That’s right: Ianniello was paid over $100 million to leave a job. And this after he’d already made millions and will go to make millions more. He’s currently the CEO of Argus Capital Corp, where he can make obscene amounts of money without having to deal with any of that showbiz stuff.

Alright, so we’ve seen how much some of the top executives in the industry are pulling down. Are the actors and writers correct that they’re getting paid too much, and could reducing some of those paydays help address their concerns?

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