Netflix has issued estimates for the 2023 compensation of its top executives, with Co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos set to take home $34.65 million and $40 million, respectively.
The forecast by the board of director’s compensation committee, disclosed today in an SEC filing, is in line with 2022. Hastings will receive $650,000 in base salary and stock options worth $34 million. Sarandos will get a salary of $3 million, options worth another $20 million and a bonus targeted at $17 million.
Netflix is among the few companies that issue guidance for executive pay, as opposed to just reporting figures from previous year.
Greg Peters, the company’s COO and head of product as well as the key overseer of the company’s recent launch of an ad-supported subscription tier and entry into video games, is in line to receive $24 million in 2023, the same as last year’s estimate. Of that total, $1.5 million is base salary; options are $10 million and the bonus is $10.5 million. According to last year’s filing, Peters and other execs were not slated to receive bonuses in 2022.
“Awards under the plan will only be paid after achievement of specified performance goals,” this year’s filing notes. “The committee will be the administrator of the plan and will assign each participant a target award and performance goal or goals for a performance period set by the committee. The estimated target bonus amounts set out in the table above are estimates only, and any actual amounts that may be paid to the may differ based on factors adopted by the committee pursuant to the plan.”
The operating landscape has shifted dramatically for Hastings, Sarandos & Co. over the past year. Heading into 2022, the company’s stock was still above $600 and the company’s dominance was evidenced by the global success of shows like Squid Game, which even prompted a mash tweet from Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos. Subsequent months would see the company report its first subscriber losses in more than a decade and weak guidance reflecting the toll of stiff competition. As the grueling year progressed, the Co-CEOs initiated layoffs and finally took their foot off the gas pedal in terms of content spending. Netflix will enter 2023 still as the market leader in terms of subscribers but with challenges aplenty, from password sharing to advertising to video games.