In what was a blockbuster year for the local TV station owner, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook’s 2022 pay package soared to $39.3 million, according to the company’s proxy filing, released Friday. That was up from $21.1 million in 2021.
Sook’s 2022 compensation package was driven mostly by a $33.3 million stock grant, with his salary at $2 million, a $1 million bonus, and $3 million in non-equity incentive compensation.
In 2022 Nexstar not only saw record midterm political advertising revenue, but it acquired The CW from Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, with the entertainment giants effectively paying the company $54 million to take it off their hands (and balance sheets).
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The CW lost $94 million in its first quarter as a division of Nexstar.
Among other Nexstar executives, president and COO Tom Carter took home $2 million, and networks chief Sean Compton (who oversees the CW and NewsNation, among other channels) earned a package worth $2.5 million.
Nexstar has been on an expansion push.
Having effectively reached the maximum number of local TV stations allowed by current FCC rules (with some wiggle room), the company has turned to cable and The CW to expand. In particular, the company has invested in its cable news channel NewsNation, which features a lineup of TV news veterans and utilizes Nexstar’s local TV resources in a bid take on larger cable news competitors.
It also acquired The CW, with plans to lean into more reality, unscripted and international fare, and other value-driven programming like LIV Golf. Nexstar was already the largest owner of CW stations in the country.
