Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger’s total compensation for Disney’s fiscal 2018 was a whopping $65.6 million. Abigail Disney, the granddaughter of Disney co-founder Roy Disney, calls that sum “insane.”
While speaking at the Fast Company Impact Council, the filmmaker and philanthropist insisted that this level of corporate payout has a “corrosive effect on society.”
Disney took to social media to reemphasize her point.
“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,” Disney wrote in a detailed thread on Twitter, breaking down her many issues with executive compensation of this level.
She continued, “I’m not saying Iger doesn’t deserve a bonus. He most certainly does. He is brilliant and has led the company brilliantly,” Disney continued… “It’s 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 doesn’t it stand to reason you could have given a raise instead?”
This is hardly the first time Disney has spoken out to raise the living wage and tax the wealthy. Disney has long-pressed companies to do better, recently appearing on CNBC stating, “I can’t sit back and accumulate wealth simply because I inherited it.”
Disney ended her thread with a call to action. “Anyone who contributes to the success of a profitable company and who works full time to do so should not go hungry, should not ration insulin, and should not have to sleep in a car,” she said.