Paramount Global, the company formerly known as ViacomCBS, disclosed the compensation for president and CEO Bob Bakish and its other top executives Friday, in its third proxy filing since its creation via the recombination of Viacom and CBS Corp. in 2019.
The company, which is controlled by Shari Redstone and other members of the Redstone family, said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Bakish received $20 million in 2021, after earning $38.9 million in 2020. His compensation declined as he did not receive a cash bonus in 2021, nor did he receive any new stock awards. Instead his compensation consisted of a $3.1 million salary, and $16.8 million in a non-equity incentive plan. Stock awards for Bakish and most other top executives, except for the company’s CFO, had been pulled forward into late 2020. When adjusting for that, the company said compensation has been little changed overall.
Related Stories
The Redstone family’s National Amusements controls about 80 percent of the voting shares of the company, for which Shari Redstone serves as non-executive chair.
The stock of the conglomerate, which includes such assets as the Paramount Pictures studio, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central and the Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming services, fell 25 percent in 2021 as it dealt with volatility stemming from bets made by the hedge fund Archegos Capital Management.
Still, the company grew its revenue by 13 percent in 2021 to $28.6 billion. Operating income rose 52 percent to $6.3 billion, while earnings per share from continuing operations jumped 79 percent to $6.69.
Global streaming subscribers rose to more than 56 million last year, with Pluto TV ending 2021 with more than 64 million monthly active users.
In mid-February, management unveiled a corporate rebrand to Paramount and debuted an updated streaming strategy that is going all-in and will rely on more revivals and reboots of nostalgic, fan-favorite intellectual property and sequels of popular projects.
Other top Paramount executives also saw their pay packages decline in 2021. CFO Naveen Chopra received a package valued at just over $4 million, down from $11 million the year prior, with general counsel Christa A. D’Alimonte earning a $3.2 million pay package, public policy and government relations chief DeDe Lea earning $2.1 million, and chief people officer Nancy Phillips seeing a $1.8 million pay package.
Separately, Paramount disclosed Friday that it had extended the contracts of Lea and Phillips, keeping them with the company well into 2025.
