Leslie Moonves, David Zaslav, Robert Iger: 10 Highly Paid Entertainment CEOs

Leslie Moonves

CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves is the top-paid Hollywood executive of 2012 based on compensation disclosures so far. His pay declined 11 percent from $69.9 million in 2011, but his $62.2 million still once again made him the highest-paid CEO of a big entertainment company. Amid continued earnings and stock price improvements by his company, it was also ahead of the $57.7 million he had made in 2010.

David Zaslav

Discovery Communications boss David Zaslav made $49.9 million in 2012, slightly below the $52.4 million that he had earned in 2011. But that was enough to see him yet again rank just behind Moonves in terms of compensation for bosses of big entertainment companies. The year-over-year drop was due to changes in the value of his stock options, even as the company’s shares rose more than 50 percent last year.

Robert Iger

With compensation worth $40.2 million, Disney CEO Robert Iger received a 20 percent pay bump for the fiscal year ended in September. His package included $2.5 million in salary and  various stock and other awards and bonuses. The company cited a stock gain and positive operating trends.
 

Philippe Dauman

Philippe Dauman, the CEO of Viacom, which, just like CBS Corp., is controlled by Sumner Redstone, received a compensation package worth $33.5 million for the company's fiscal year ended Sept. 30. That was a decline of 22 percent, but still allowed him to stay ahead of many of his peers.
 

Rupert Murdoch

News Corp.'s fiscal year ends in June, so pay information for chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch and other top executives always is disclosed outside the traditional reporting season. For the fiscal year that ended last summer, Murdoch's compensation amounted to $30 million, down 10 percent. President and COO Chase Carey earned $24.8 million, down from $30.2 million the year before.
 

Steve Burke

Steve Burke, the CEO of NBCUniversal, bucked the compensation downward trend. The head of the Comcast-owned entertainment giant earned $26.3 million in 2012, up from $23.7 million a year earlier. The company's financials have shown improvement, even though management has cautioned that the ratings turnaround at NBC will be a longer-term process.
 

Jeff Bewkes

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes saw his 2012 pay remain pretty steady at $25.9 million. The company's stock rose around 30 percent last year, but his compensation was virtually unchanged. His stock awards amounted to $6.9 million, up from $6.1 million in 2011, but option awards declined from $3.96 million to $2.96 million.

Sumner Redstone

CBS Corp. and Viacom chairman and controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone received higher combined compensation from his two publicly traded entertainment companies. The mogul's CBS compensation rose 54 percent from $20.3 million in 2011 to $31.3 million last year driven by growth in pension value. But Redstone's Viacom pay for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 amounted to $20.4 million, down slightly from $21 million.

Amy Miles

Regal Entertainment boss Amy Miles received higher compensation in 2012. Her nearly $4.5 million package meant a gain of 31 percent over 2011. She got a small salary increase, but mostly benefited from a $1.2 million non-equity incentive payout.

Rich Gelfond

Rich Gelfond, the boss of giant-screen exhibitor Imax, saw a 35 percent decline in his compensation for 2012. That brought his pay to $3.6 million. The decline was in contrast to the increased pay for the boss of largest U.S. exhibitor Regal.