Netflix executives enjoyed a fruitful 2015, a year that saw CEO Reed Hastings’ pay rise 50 percent and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos’ jump 59 percent.
All told, Hastings (pictured, left) made $16.6 million last year, while Sarandos (right) earned $14 million. So, it is time to Netflix and chill on their own private islands?
Here’s how the president and chairman’s take breaks down: Hastings had $1.1 million in salary and a whopping $15.5 million in option awards.
As for Sarandos, he earned the same rounded $1.1 million in salary, a beefy $10.9 million in options, and a cool $2 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation.
Both men actually took a salary cut from 2014, when Hastings was at $3 million and Sarandos had reached $2.8 million. With option awards like these, however, who needs raises?
In 2014, Hastings made $8.1 million in options, while Sarandos was good for $6 million. Clearly, that’s the executive compensation category in which the two struck gold this past year, though Sarandos probably isn’t sneezing at his non-equity rake either.
If only NFLX stock was seeing similar gains — shares for the once-hot NASDAQ bet have been struggling since mid-month. Read all about that here.