Netflix CEO Reed Hastings could be in for big raise in 2019.
The streamer disclosed in a regulatory filing Dec. 28 that its top executive could make as much as $31.5 million during the upcoming year. That compares with the up to $29.4 million he stood to receive for his work in 2018. Hastings’ 2019 pay package is made up of just $700,000 in salary and as much as $30.8 million in stock options.
Content chief Ted Sarandos will also see his compensation go up in 2019, matching Hastings’ $31.5 million potential total. That’s up from the $26.2 million pay package that he was offered in 2018. It also marks the first time that the Los Angeles-based Sarandos will make the same amount as Netflix founder Hastings, a sign of just how important his work building the company’s content offerings is to its overall growth. Sarandos’ pay is made up of $18 million in salary and $13.5 million in stock options.
Netflix revealed in December 2017 that it would change its pay structure as a result of the tax overhaul implemented by President Donald Trump, converting all executive bonuses into regular compensation.
The latest disclosure shows the threshold for what the executives can make, based on performance. Netflix then discloses full-year compensation for its executives for the previous year in April, so the exact amount that Sarandos and Hastings made in 2018 won’t be public until then.
CFO David Wells could make as much as $6.3 million during the year. Meanwhile, product chief Greg Peters could make as much as $16.8 million, and general counsel David Hyman is in line for as much as $7.35 million.
The streamer, which has 130 million paid subscribers worldwide, saw its stock rise more than 30 percent during the year.
