11 New Yorkers who make over $11K an hour
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is the latest to push for higher minimum wages. His state already has a minimum wage for fast-food workers of $15 an hour, which is the highest for any state. But CEOs in New York are also topping the charts.
There are 11 CEOs of New York State-based companies in the Standard & Poor's index, including Leslie Moonves of media giant CBS (CBS), Philippe Dauman of another media giant, Viacom (VIAB), and Ralph Lauren of designer Ralph Lauren (RL) that earn $11,000 an hour or more — making them among the best paid New Yorkers, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ.
These hourly figures are based on the executives' total reported pay in the latest fiscal year as required to be disclosed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and based on a 40-hour work week.
These are certainly among some of the best paid New Yorkers you can find. These 11 New York executives brought home total compensation, on average, of $15,432 an hour. That's more than double the $7,684-an-hour total pay pulled in on average by the 56 CEOs of New York-based companies in the S&P 500 — which is above the national average for CEOs of companies based in other states. It would take a New York fast-food worker making $15 an hour 26 weeks — or about six months — to earn as much as what these top-paid New York CEOs make in a single hour.
9 CEOs paid 800 times more than their workers
To be sure, no one expects a line cook at a fast-food restaurant to earn as much as the captain of one of the largest companies in America. But investors are increasingly looking to compare the salaries of workers with those of the top executives as the Securities and Exchange Commission just approved new rules. These rules, which will kick in over the next couple of years, require companies to disclose how much more CEOs earn than the rank-and-file employees.
The New York development is interesting because the relatively high cost of living in the state warrants higher pay, so comparing the top-paid CEOs with those getting the higher minimum wage shows the spread. CEOs of New York-based companies get paid better than the national average. The average pay of CEOs of New York-based companies is 29% higher than the average pay of CEOs in companies based in other states. Cuomo, who approved the $15-an-hour increase on Thursday for fast-food workers, said he will urge laws to push the minimum to that level for all industries.
New York OKs $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers
Some of the individual cases are even more dramatic. Moonves of CBS is the highest-paid CEO of a New York-based business. He pulled in total compensation of $57.2 million, which breaks down to an impressive $27,500 an hour. Not bad. Media is definitely the place to be in New York for top executives looking for big pay packages. Dauman pulled in total compensation of $21,315 an hour, putting him No. 2 behind Moonves.
Ever wonder who can actually afford to live well in Manhattan? Now you know.
CEO name, Company name , Exchange:Ticker, Pay/hour (40 hrs.)
Moonves, Leslie, CBS Corporation, NYSE:CBS, $27,488
Dauman, Philippe P., Viacom, NasdaqGS:VIAB, $21,315
Schleifer, Leonard S., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, NasdaqGS:REGN, $20,176
Marcus, Robert D., Time Warner Cable, NYSE:TWC, $16,642
Bewkes, Jeffrey L., Time Warner Inc., NYSE:TWX, $15,819
Wren, John D., Omnicom Group, NYSE:OMC, $11,546
Lauren, Ralph, Ralph Lauren, NYSE:RL, $11,518
Fink, Laurence Douglas, BlackRock, NYSE:BLK, $11,472
Dolan, James L., Cablevision Systems, NYSE:CVC, $11,395
Read, Ian C., Pfizer, NYSE:PFE, $11,194
Gorman, James P., Morgan Stanley, NYSE:MS, $11,188