Disney's Bob Iger Giving Up His Salary During COVID-19 Crisis

Disney's outgoing CEO, Bob Iger, is relinquishing his entire salary, while new company leader Bob Chapek will cut his own salary in half in an effort to help the company's employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Walt Disney Company announced this in an email to employees, which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

These aren't the only financial measures being taken at Disney to address the growing crisis surrounding the coronavirus. From April 5, all Disney vice presidents will also see their pay cut by 20 percent, with senior vice presidents dropping pay by 25 percent, and executive vice presidents and above by 30 percent.

Iger has been one of the highest-paid media executives in the world during his run as CEO of Disney. For the latest financial year, he made $47.5 million, which was down from $65.6 million during the year prior. As for Chapek, his base salary is $2.5 million, so he'll now earn $1.25 million.

Of course, base salary is just the beginning for any executive when it comes to a total pay package, and this includes Chapek. The executive stands to make many millions more due to his bonus and stock share programs, but the 50 percent pay cut only applies to his base salary.

The announcement of these pay cuts comes not longer after Disney announced it would keep its parks in North America closed indefinitely. Previously, the company expected to re-open in April. The closure of the parks is horrible news for the thousands of employees, who are called cast members, but Disney has confirmed it will keep paying them while the parks are closed.

According to the OC Register, Disneyland alone will pay its 31,000 employees from a pool of $59 million during this difficult time.

Iger stepped down from his CEO role at Disney in February, though he will remain with the company as its executive chairman until the end of 2021.