DIS Walt Disney Co

By Maria Armental 

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger saw the value of his total compensation last year surge 81% to $65.6 million, the company said in a securities filing Friday.

The biggest driver of the increase was $35.4 million in stock awards, a portion of which was due to the extension of his contract through December 2021. Mr. Iger's salary for the year ended in September rose to $2.9 million from $2.5 million.

The value of all of Mr. Iger's stock-award holdings, assuming that the highest level of performance conditions are achieved and the deal for 21st Century Fox Inc.'s entertainment assets closes, would be $149.6 million for 2018, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following shareholder pushback, Disney's board last month raised the targets Mr. Iger would have to clear to collect his performance bonus. Disney shareholders had rejected, in a nonbinding advisory vote, the compensation plan for Mr. Iger and other executives.

In comparison, Mr. Iger's total pay a year earlier was valued at $36.3 million, which included $9 million in stock awards.

Disney also said it plans to reduce its board to nine members from the current 11 when the annual shareholder meeting occurs March 7.

Derica W. Rice, a longtime Eli Lilly & Co. chief financial officer who serves as executive vice president of CVS Health Corp. and president of CVS Caremark, has been nominated to join the board. Meanwhile, John S. Chen, Aylwin B. Lewis and Fred H. Langhammer would leave the board based on Disney's policies that directors serve for up to 15 years and retire by age 74.

Josh Beckerman contributed to this article.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 11, 2019 21:43 ET (02:43 GMT)

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