A sizzling potato: Digital Arts, an organization that laid off 670 folks earlier this yr as a result of the $7.56 billion internet income it earned within the 2024 fiscal interval wasn’t sufficient, paid its high execs $60 million throughout the identical timeframe. CEO Andrew Wilson took the bulk share: $25.6 million.
EA’s annual Proxy Statement, highlighted by Game Developer, reveals that Wilson’s fundamental wage in FY24 was $1.3 million. He additionally acquired over $20m in inventory awards, slightly below $3.5m from a non-equity incentive plan, and $500,000 in “different” compensation, similar to private safety advantages. His compensation was considerably greater in FY24 than in 2023 ($20.6 million) and 2022 ($19.8 million).
Wilson was praised for overseeing a “yr of continued worker satisfaction scores above trade benchmarks,” which included “document excessive expertise retention.”
To the 670 folks, or 5% of its whole workforce, laid off by EA a number of months in the past, these statements will doubtlessly sound bitter. Wilson mentioned the cuts have been a part of an ongoing effort to “optimize our world actual property footprint to finest help our enterprise.”
The corporate additionally laid off 775 folks, or 6% of its workforce, in March 2023. It applied additional layoffs at Codemasters, which EA owns, in December.
Different EA executives who acquired large pay packets embody Laura Miele, president of EA Leisure, know-how and central growth. Miele acquired the second-highest pay, a complete of over $12 million, consisting of a base wage of $820,385, inventory awards value $10.05 million, and non-equity incentive plan compensation of $1.2 million.
Elsewhere, CFO Stuart Canfield walked away with $6.4 million, and Chief Folks Officer Mala Singh earned $6.9 million.
It is famous that the median worker earned $148,704 in compensation. Which means Wilson earned 172 occasions greater than the typical employee on the firm.
Prime executives incomes salaries a whole bunch of occasions larger than these of normal staff is not one thing new, but it surely’s much more galling when it comes after an organization fires staff as a result of it needs to streamline. The actual fact Wilson’s pay elevated by $5 million in a yr is one other slap within the face for many who have been fired.
An estimated 10,800 folks from throughout the video games trade have been laid off in 2024 to this point, greater than the 10,500 that misplaced their jobs throughout the entire of 2023.
