Netflix CEO Reed Hastings saw his total compensation jump by a massive 43% last year. He received a salary of $11.1 million last year according to the company. The raise includes a salary hike and larger stock option award.
More pay for key Netflix executives
Reed Hastings, who founded Netflix in 1997, received a base salary of $3 million in 2014, which was 50% more than his salary in 2013. The option award amounted to $8.1 million, which was also 41% higher than that in the previous year.
Additionally, the California-based company noted that the total package of Chief Financial Officer David Wells amounted to $2.43 million in 2014 compared to $1.8 million the previous year. Wells’s package included $943 thousand in salary and $1.48 million in option awards. The stock awards could end up being more or less depending on the stock performance in the next few years. It should be noted that for 2015, the base pay for the executives has been slashed, but the stock awards have been raised to encourage them to work harder.
More changes for 2015
Netflix made a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, mentioning that for the year 2015, the company has made several crucial adjustments to its compensation practices. The revised practices will help it avoid surcharges payable to the Internal Revenue Service.
Base salaries for each of the executives were set at $1 million including Hastings, but excluding CFO David Wells. The CEO is being granted an opportunity to make $14.7 million in 2015 as the board has plans of awarding stock options worth $13.7 million to Hastings this year.
Netflix is focusing on international expansion for now, and it is adding new and interesting content to its portfolio. The company’s stock has hit new heights owing to the rising growth in subscribers due to global expansion. The shares of the streaming company are up around 33% year to date. The worldwide subscribers of the company totaled 57.4 million at the end of last year, an increase of 13 million compared to year-end 2013.
At 10 am EDT Monday, Netflix shares were up over 3.5% at $470.54.
