Casino mogul Steve Wynn, who recently stepped down as CEO and chairman of Wynn Resorts Ltd. after allegations of sexual misconduct, is among the top 20 highest paid chief executive officers in the United States, according to a recent report. He also tops the list of only several Las Vegas casino CEOs who earned more than $110 million combined in compensations in 2017.
Many large corporations around the world pay huge, multi-million salaries to their top executives and this is hardly a surprise to anyone. In recent years, there have been multiple stories about corporate leaders who receive outrageous amounts of money as severance packages or compensation, often in the United States. Known as exit packages, these payments are given to top CEOs who resign or are being replaced in some of the largest companies. But according to a new requirement of the Securities and Exchange Commission, companies in the United States need to compare CEO pay to median worker pay.
Taking effect this year, this requirement reveals shocking disparities in the average payment received by workers and their bosses, with some of the most outrageous results seen in Las Vegas. Amazingly, Wynn Resortsā former CEO, Steve Wynn, received compensation of hundreds of times what his workers earned in 2017. To be more precise, the pay ratio in Wynnās case is 909 to 1, according to the official figures, compiled and analyzed by intelligence and research company Equilar. The former casino mogul tops the list of the highest paid CEOs in Las Vegas with a total of $34.5 million in cash and stock.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. CEO Sheldon Adelson follows closely with $26 million in compensation and a pay ratio of 747 to 1. Caesars Entertainment Corp. CEO Mark Frissora was paid $23.9 million in 2017 and if we compare his pay to what his workers earned, the ratio is 601 to 1. Although MGM Resorts CEO Jim Murren was the only corporate leader who in 2017, took in less than in 2016, he still ranks fourth with $14.6 million. And still, his compensation was higher than the median pay package given to CEOs of public companies in the United States, which was $11.7 million.
Other high paid CEOs in the gaming industry include Marco Sala, CEO of International Game Technology PLC, who earned $9.86 million, followed by Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith ($8.59 million) and Scientific Games Corp. outgoing CEO Kevin Sheehan ($8.1 million). Timothy Wilmott, CEO of Penn National Gaming Inc. collected $7.18 million, while Richard Haskins, President of Red Rock Resorts Inc., received $5.1 million in 2017.
Increasing Gap between Top Execs and Employees
According to the Equilar annual report, the income gap between top executives and everyday employees is growing wider in the United States. Figures reveal the compensation of 200 CEOs of public companies with annual revenue of at least $1 billion that filed proxies by April 30. But the pay received by Steve Wynn last year is certainly not the most shocking finding in the analysis ā while he received 909 times the pay of his workers on average, there were much more outrageous comparisons.
The data for Mindy Grossman, the new CEO of Weight Watchers International, reveals the nearly unbelievable pay ratio of 5908 to 1, but the ratio between payments is also scandalous for Margaret H. Georgiadis, Mattel CEO, who collected 4987 times what workers received. Other notable names here are McDonaldsā Steve Easterbrook (3101:1), GAPās Art Peck (2900:1), and Live Nation Ent.ās Michael Rapino (2893:1).
In terms of highest compensation, Hock Tan of Broadcom tops the list for 2017 with a pay of $103 million, followed by Leslie Moonves of CBS with $68.4 million, W. Nicholas Howley of TransDigm with $61 million, Jeffrey Bewkes of Time Warner with $49 million, and Stephen Kaufer of TripAdvisor with $43.2 million. The top three executives of Wynn Resorts, Steve Wynn, Matt Madox, and Kim Sinatra collected a combined $72.6 million last year.