Disney Chief’s Salary Reaches $10.6 Million
Directors of the Walt Disney Co. fattened Michael Eisner’s annual bonus by $2 million in 1997, boosting the chairman and chief executive’s total salary for the year to $10.65 million, according to a regulatory filing.
The earnings do not include Eisner’s recent exercising of stock options on 7.3 million Disney shares worth $565 million, one of the largest stock option transactions for a chief executive.
Eisner’s bonus rose in 1997 from $7.9 million to $9.9 million, part of a pay package that is tied closely to the company’s performance. In 13 years under Eisner, Disney revenues have grown from $1.7 billion in 1984 to more than $22 billion in fiscal 1997, including net income of nearly $2 billion.