The combined compensation of the top entertainment CEOs saw a 51% jump in 2025 from a year earlier. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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In this newsletter: Media moguls see big pay raise, our profile on Bill Lawrence and more.

When you talk about income inequality in America, there may not be a better illustration of that dynamic than in Hollywood. Our Lucas Manfredi crunched the numbers on the executive compensation disclosed by the various media companies, and the results are stunning.

The top 20 Hollywood executives raked in a combined $785.9 million in 2025, helped by new additions in Paramount's David Ellison and Jeff Shell, as well as Starz CEO Jeff Hirsch. Taking them out, the apples-to-apples comparison of total compensation saw a 47.5% increase over the prior year.

Keep in mind, this is coming at a time when the industry lost more than 17,000 jobs in 2025, and even more layoffs are happening now. While Skydance's acquisition of Paramount was a catalyst for cuts last year and early this year, Paramount's merger with Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to drive even more cuts.

While the S&P 500 average pay ratio is 281 to 1, there are several examples of media companies whose executive compensation is far higher, including last year's big winner, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, who boasted a pay ratio of 1,378 to 1, or Paramount CEO David Ellison, who had a ratio of 1,109 to 1. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron has a ratio of 1,174 to 1.

Roger Cheng
Managing Editor of Business and PRO
roger.cheng@thewrap.com

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MEDIA PAYDAY

What's particularly eye-opening is the disparity between pay increase and stock performance. When taking a broader look at 318 companies within the S&P 500 index, an ISS Corporate study found that media and entertainment CEO pay had the most dramatic rise of any industry during the 2025 proxy season, with a median increase of 117.4%. In comparison, the sector’s median shareholder return fell 28.6%.

The increases haven’t gone unnoticed. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders notably rejected Zaslav’s golden parachute, and while executive pay votes are non-binding, one notable example where shareholder pushback resulted in meaningful change was in 2023 when Netflix capped its co-CEO base salaries at $3 million and required that 50% of their pay be in stock options.

But at least one non-profit, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, is calling for an "Overpaid CEO Tax" that would impact chief executives who make more than 50 times more than what their media worker makes.

DON'T MISS

Bill Lawrence is clearly a busy man. But he made time to talk to TheWrap about his unexpected career renaissance in his late 50s. Lawrence is one of the most prolific, successful and distinctive showrunners over the past few decades, which span "Spin City" in 1996 to this year's lineup that includes "Rooster," "Scrubs," "Shrinking," "Ted Lasso" and "Bad Monkey."

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