CEO pay revealed: bosses cash in as pay soars above inflation
The average chief executive pay at some of Australia’s biggest companies is more than $5m, and dozens received double-digit salary increases | FULL LIST
The average chief executive pay at some of Australia’s biggest companies is more than $5m, and dozens received double-digit salary increases, according to annual reports and other information released during the recent profit reporting season.
Remuneration figures collated by The Australian from more than 70 big companies showed most CEOs got pay rises far exceeding inflation rates and the pace at which wages for full-time Australian workers and other employees increased over the 2023 financial year.
About 30 CEOs received double-digit percentage pay increases for the year, at a time when interest rates and inflation remained stubbornly high.
Twenty-six CEOs received total statutory earnings of more than $5m, comprising base salaries, short and long-term incentives, bonuses and other income.
There were five CEOs who had pay packets of more than $10m, while another 19 earned more than $5m.
Average weekly earnings for all Australian workers increased by 3.9 per cent in the year to May, according to the latest figures released by The Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Full-time adult average weekly earnings were about $1840, while the average earnings for all Australians was $1400.
Victor Herrero, CEO of Brett Blundy’s jewellery retail chain Lovisa, took home one of the biggest remuneration packages on the ASX with a $29m windfall, though only $1.9m of that was salary for 2023, according to Lovisa’s annual report.
His pay was topped up with $2.05m in performance-based payments and a huge $24.975m in share options and rights.
Mr Herrero’s CEO pay is exceeded only by Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake; earlier this year it was revealed she had a $32.8m pay packet.
Still her remuneration package was topped by Macquarie’s commodities and global markets boss Nick O’Kane, who banked $57.6m after his division recorded a substantial increase in profit.
Mirvac managing director Campbell Hanan was paid a statutory $2.3m for 2023, up from $1.87m a year earlier.
However, Mr Hanan was appointed CEO in March and received a fixed remuneration increase from $950,000 to $1.5m. he was previously the property company’s head of integrated investment portfolio.
Mirvac said his remuneration package was consistent with predecessor Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, which did not change in 10 years, and Mr Hanan told The Australian the company was aware of the critical perception of executive salaries.
“From a Mirvac experience, obviously conditions are harder than before and so we would focus most heavily on the lower paid workers in our business to ensure that they get all of the increase possible.
“We certainly didn’t pass on any increase in remuneration or salaries to our higher-paid staff and that was very deliberate.”
Mr Hanan said one issue that “always muddies the water” was that many senior roles had remuneration tied to share price performance.
“You get issued shares and those shares go up in value, and there is a perception that you’ve been earning a lot of money when in reality it’s just the fact that the shares have gone up in value from when you issued them.
“But I do think we all need to be very aware of the inequality across all businesses, and we’re certainly addressing that at Mirvac. And we’re very thrilled to have, for seven successive years, zero pay gap between males and females in our business, and that’s really important.”
Seven Group’s Ryan Stokes received $8.03m in statutory pay, including a cash-settled equity revalue of $2.78m. The biggest increase was Sue van der Merwe from The Lottery Corporation, whose pay increased from about $715,000 in 2022 to $3.37m.
That increase was due to Ms van der Merwe’s promotion to her company’s CEO role. She previously ran Tabcorp’s lottery business before it was spun out of the wagering giant in the middle of 2022.
Ms van der Merwe’s base salary leaped to $1.3m from about $135,000 in the previous year.
Dale Henderson’s pay at Pilbara Minerals rose from about $1.7m in 2022 when he was the resources company’s chief operating officer to $3.95m as CEO.
For Paul Flynn at coal miner Whitehaven, his pay packet doubled from $5.17m to $10.6m, mostly as a result of a $4.6m increase in the value of the value of his vested share performance rights. His statutory pay increased from $4.5m to $5.9m.
Other big statutory earners included Greg Goodman, CEO of Goodman Group, who received $14.16m in 2023, according to the industrial property company’s annual report.
Goodman’s $14.16m statutory remuneration included about $12.8m in share-based performance rights. His overall pay packet actually fell about 10 per cent from $15.77m in 2022.
Overall, 23 CEOs saw their pay decrease in 2023, including Seven West Media CEO James Warburton whose total package fell from almost $4.6m in 2022 to $2.77m in the last financial year, mostly due to the halving of the value of his share-based performance rights.
Mr Warburton said pay figures “were not up to CEOs – it’s up to boards when they appoint people and discussing with shareholders and understanding where it is.
“In my case 75 per cent of my income is incentive-based. I earn half what the previous CEO earnt in terms of base.
“It’s something every board faces in terms of remuneration reports.
“I don’t think it’s up to CEOs. We don’t walk in and dictate our own pay, I can guarantee you that.”
Southern Cross Media Group managing director and CEO John Kelly took over the role on July 1, replacing outgoing boss Grant Blackley, and he said the company had reviewed its remuneration policy.
“As part of our efficiency costs review we have reduced the overall costs of our leadership team by 25 per cent.
“We acknowledge certainly in our situation we wanted to readdress our pay scales of our leaders and we’ve done that,” he said.
“From 30 June to 1 July these costs moved down by 25 per cent.”
The company did not fill Mr Kelly’s previous role as chief operating officer.
GPT’s chief executive Bob Johnston said it was important for local companies to reward bosses with appropriate remuneration in order not to lose them to foreign competitors.
“I would have thought Australia needs to have competitive salaries to keep the talent in Australia,” he said. “Any pay structure has to be approved by the shareholders.”
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