Michael Corbat defended the huge compensation gap between low-level employees and top management at Citigroup, saying it should inspire the rank-and-file workers who could someday fill his shoes.
"My answer is I am that person," Corbat said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street. " "I started at our firm in 1983 at $17,000 a year."
The pay gap at Citigroup, led by Corbat since 2012, is the biggest among large U.S. banks. Corbat made $24.2 million last year, 486 times the median employee pay of $49,766. While other bank CEOs had similar paydays, higher median pay at Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase meant that Citigroup had the most extreme ratio.
That comparison is unfair to Citigroup because of the employees the bank has in places like Mexico and the Philippines, where compensation is low, he said. Excluding those workers, the "average employee in the U.S. makes right about $100,000 a year," he said.
Income inequality at large U.S. corporations is a hot-button issue ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections. The pay ratio is even more extreme outside of banking, in industries like retail, food and entertainment. For instance, Disney CEO Bob Iger made 1,424 times the median pay of his employees, prompting Abigail Disney to call his compensation "insane."
This guy is insane. Everyone knows that the days of companies investing in their employee's long term like this are long gone. No one is rising up from the mailroom anymore. Just as companies are not paying for MBAs, by and large. We are all mercs now.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/citigroup-ceo-corbat-defends-pay-gap-i-started-in-1983-at-17000.html
"My answer is I am that person," Corbat said Thursday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street. " "I started at our firm in 1983 at $17,000 a year."
The pay gap at Citigroup, led by Corbat since 2012, is the biggest among large U.S. banks. Corbat made $24.2 million last year, 486 times the median employee pay of $49,766. While other bank CEOs had similar paydays, higher median pay at Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase meant that Citigroup had the most extreme ratio.
That comparison is unfair to Citigroup because of the employees the bank has in places like Mexico and the Philippines, where compensation is low, he said. Excluding those workers, the "average employee in the U.S. makes right about $100,000 a year," he said.
Income inequality at large U.S. corporations is a hot-button issue ahead of the 2020 U.S. elections. The pay ratio is even more extreme outside of banking, in industries like retail, food and entertainment. For instance, Disney CEO Bob Iger made 1,424 times the median pay of his employees, prompting Abigail Disney to call his compensation "insane."
This guy is insane. Everyone knows that the days of companies investing in their employee's long term like this are long gone. No one is rising up from the mailroom anymore. Just as companies are not paying for MBAs, by and large. We are all mercs now.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/02/citigroup-ceo-corbat-defends-pay-gap-i-started-in-1983-at-17000.html
