THE WHAT? Total pay for S&P Chief Executives continues to rise, according to a report titled 100 Most Overpaid CEOs published by As You Sow. The median pay was US$23,455,188 – up 8 percent year-on-year.

THE DETAILS CEO pay is not only on the rise but also increasing faster than employee pay with those at the top receiving 324 times that of their median paid workers on average, up from 299 times in 2020, the study reveals. At Amazon, the CEO to worker pay ratio hit 6,474 to 1.

The Estee Lauder Companies’ Fabrizio Freda was named as the second most overpaid CEO in the ranking. The US prestige beauty giant has the dubious accolade of being the only cosmetics firm listed in the Most Overpaid CEOs top 10.

THE WHY? Robert Reich, Co-founder of Inequality Media, commented, “A company’s executive compensation directly reflects its directors’ priorities and outlook: You can tell if a company is committed to building a sustainable future by how it pays its CEO. The continuous, exorbitant increases in executive compensation over the past four decades typify a rigged system that benefits the wealthy at the expense of workers, and the rest of us. Shareholders must supervise boards more effectively than directors have been supervising CEOs. The solution is voting on proxy statements and taking each vote seriously.”