Horacio Gutierrez, chief legal officer at Walt Disney Co., drew nearly $11.7 million as a total compensation from the media and entertainment establishment last year, as stated in a proxy statement filed a while ago. This compensation marks a 23% reduction from 2022, mainly due to the signing bonus received by Gutierrez.
Following a successful tenure as the top legal executive at Spotify Technology SA, Gutierrez was hired by Disney in December 2021. His earnings for the past year were broken down into more than $4.3 million in cash, comprising around $1.3 million in base salary and $3 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, along with approximately $7.2 million in stock and options awards.
Just last month, it was announced that Gutierrez’s contract with Disney has been extended through 2026. As part of the renewed contract, Gutierrez is projected to earn $1.5 million in annual base salary. However, his compensation for fiscal 2022 was a considerable $15.2 million but this receivable mismatch is due to a $2 million signing bonus Gutierrez received when he joined Disney.
Regarding his remuneration, Disney expressed that Gutierrez’s base salary had been elevated to match developments in the market for executive talent and exhibit his consistent exemplary performance. Gutierrez has been lauded by Disney for his cogent contribution in assisting the company in maneuvering through various corporate governance and public policy conundrums, mapping out strategies to defend its content from generative artificial intelligence services, and providing direction on critical litigation, regulatory, and transactional affairs.
After the retirement of Disney’s former legal chief Alan Braverman in 2021, Gutierrez took over his role. Disney also gave Gutierrez the additional title of chief compliance officer last year following sizeable layoffs at the company. Prior to joining Disney, Gutierrez was hired at Spotify after nearly 18 years at Microsoft Corp, ultimately rising to the position of general counsel for the technology entity
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For more details, find the original reporting here.