Disney amends CEO Iger's pay package

(Reuters) - Walt Disney Co said on Monday Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger has agreed to certain adjustments to his compensation package, which ties his paycheck to the company's performance, as it nears the completion of its Twenty-First Century Fox acquisition.

Under the new agreement https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1001039/000100103918000210/0001001039-18-000210-index.htm, Iger will earn no shares if the company's relative total shareholder return is less than or equal to 25 percentile of the total shareholder return of companies in the S&P 500 index.

"In line with the Disney Board's pay-for-performance philosophy, the amendments to Mr. Iger's contract establish more rigorous performance requirements for his equity award than those reflected in the original contract," a spokesperson of Walt Disney said.

 

Under the previous compensation package, Iger was being paid up to $48.5 million in annual salary and bonuses following the Fox deal closure for each of the four years from 2018-2021.

The amended deal could help Disney assuage investor concerns over pay to Iger, who stood to earn up to $423 million over four years and faced concerns his performance targets were too low.

At last spring's shareholder meeting the company suffered a rare rebuke when a majority opposed its executive pay in a non-binding vote, a very rare result for a U.S. company.

(Reporting by Manogna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)