Civics U: The Right to Privacy - An Addendum
The original Right To Privacy column appeared in the September 6, 2021 edition of The People Newsletter.
Is your salary public information? A previous Civics U article dealt with persons’ right to privacy and different ways that this right is applied. The right to privacy normally includes the right of a private citizen to have information about their personal finances kept private – up to a point. And in many situations this includes keeping one’s salary confidential.
However, there are interesting exceptions. Taxpayers want to know how their tax monies are being spent, including what salaries are paid to their elected officials or for tax-funded positions. Similarly, stockholders and investors want to know what their company is paying their executives and perhaps also their workers. As a result, public corporations are required by law to disclose how much they pay their CEOs and their workers. Some large private companies and non-profit entities also share this information.
As a result the huge salaries and packages received by CEO’s of public and many private companies have been published. Here are a few of the highest paid CEOs according to Gineers Now article, 2020 Highest Paid CEO (Dominated by Engineers).
Company - CEO - Total Compensation*
Tesla - Elon Musk - $595,266,817**
Apple - Tim Cooke - $133,727,869
Chewy, Inc. - Sumit Singh - $108,158,705
Alphabet, Inc. - Sundar Pichal - $86,162,752
Microsoft - Satya Nadella - $77,289,149
*total includes, along with salary (“cash”), various benefits such as bonuses, awards, stock options, and stock.
**There are some differences in the exact amounts calculated by various analysts. For example, Stocks Review lists Elon Musk’s pay as $2,284,044,888.
And here are a few more of possible interest from Stocktalker Review, 9 Highest Paid CEOs in the World in 2020 and Payscale.com.
Company - CEO - Total Compensation
CVS Health Corp - Larry Merlo - $22,855,374
Wal Mart Stores - C. D. McMillion - $19,404,042
Coca Cola Co. - Muhtar Kent - $14,590,571
Pfizer Inc. - Ian C. Read - $14,410,404
Estee Lauder - Fabrizio Freda - $48,164,302
These amounts are usually 100’s of times higher than that of the average company employee. Readers can form their own opinions about this, and about when the amount of a person’s pay should be kept private and when it should be disclosed for reasons of transparency or other reasons.