Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos earned a bit less in 2023 than the year before — but he still had pay package worth $49.8 million.
That was down from $50.3 million for Sarandos in 2022, according to Netflix’s proxy statement filed Thursday with the SEC. In 2023, Sarandos had a base salary of $3 million, $28.3 million worth of stock option awards, a $16.5 cash bonus and $1.98 million in other compensation (which included $620,013 for his personal use of company aircraft and $1.3 million in residential security costs). The Netflix board’s compensation committee approved the residential security costs “after considering the potential security concerns related to Mr. Sarandos’ service as an executive officer and believes the security costs are a necessary and appropriate business expense.”
Greg Peters, who assumed the role of co-CEO in January 2023, had a compensation package last year worth $40.1 million, a significant jump from $28.1 million in 2022. He previously had served as COO and chief product officer. Peters’ 2023 pay included $2.9 million salary, $22.7 million in stock options, a $13.9 million cash bonus and $620,602 for personal use of company aircraft.
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Netflix’s median employee compensation for 2023 was $200,761. The ratio of Sarandos’ compensation to the median employee was 248:1; for Peters, it was 204:1.
Reed Hastings, who serves as Netflix’s executive chairman after stepping down as co-CEO last year, had 2023 compensation package of $11.29 million, including $10.64 million in stock options and $136,092 for personal use of company aircraft.
In December, Netflix‘s board approved 2024 target compensation packages for Sarandos and Peters each worth $40 million, including base salaries capped at $3 million.
In response to the low say-on-pay vote at Netflix’s 2023 annual shareholders meeting — when 28.7% of voted shares approved the compensation of Netflix’s named executive officers — “we undertook three rounds of shareholder engagement to better understand our shareholders’ concerns regarding our executive compensation program,” the company said in the filing. “The Compensation Committee sought to evolve the 2023 compensation structure to align with shareholder interests and incentivize the co-CEOs and Executive Chairman to execute on strategies aimed at achieving long-term success, while also maintaining aspects of our executive compensation program that we believed have helped attract and retain top talent to support our growth.”
For 2023, the pay packages of Netflix’s other senior execs were: CFO Spence Neumann, $17.0 million (down from $17.1 million in 2022); chief legal officer David Hyman, $13.7 million (up from $13.3 million); chief communications officer Rachel Whetstone, $6.9 million (flat); and chief talent officer Sergio Ezama, $6.4 million (whose 2022 pay was not disclosed).
The Netflix proxy statement came out after the company posted Q1 2024 earnings, in which the company announced that it will no longer report subscriber numbers as of the first quarter of 2025.