Disney CEO Misses Out on $60 Million Bonus, But Still Collects Record Payday

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger missed his shot at a $60 million bonus but still got his largest-ever compensation package thanks to special awards issued in connection with his contract extension.

Iger was awarded $65.6 million for 2018, including an $18 million cash incentive and $43.6 million in restricted stock and options, the Burbank, California-based company said Friday in a regulatory filing. His total compensation jumped 81 percent from the prior year, boosted by stock grants he received in December 2017 when he agreed to remain Disney’s CEO through 2021.

Iger, who’s for years been among America’s highest-paid executives, stands to reap an even larger windfall if investors and regulators approve the company’s deal with Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. Absent from his compensation figure were certain stock grants tied to the deal, which is still pending. At the end of the day, all the equity awards he received in December 2017 could be worth as much as $149.6 million if the combined entity meets certain performance conditions, the filing shows.

Missing from his 2018 haul: A cash payout of as much as $60 million that was tied to the firm’s cumulative segment operating income for the five years ended Sept. 29. Disney posted $73.9 billion over that period. Iger would have received part of the award if total adjusted operating income exceeded $76 billion, and the full amount if it reached $78.3 billion.

Disney’s board lowered the target ranges for segment operating income and return on invested capital it used to calculate executives’ bonuses for 2018, in recognition of the company’s investments in theme parks and video streaming services, according to the filing. Payouts jumped by between 18 percent and 54 percent for top executives compared with 2017.

Disney also for the first time disclosed compensation for its chief communications officer Zenia Mucha, who received $5.1 million. Her package included $961,000 in salary, a $2 million cash bonus and about $2.1 million in equity awards. Her contract, like Iger’s, runs through 2021.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anders Melin in New York at amelin3@bloomberg.net;Jenn Zhao in New York at zzhao66@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, David Scheer

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