Daily wage of 200 million won... Controversy over high pay for Disney executives

Earning Over 2 Billion Won Per Day on Average

An executive who was at Disney for just over three months reportedly took home an average of more than 2 billion KRW per day, sparking controversy.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 18th (local time), Jeff Morell, former Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Disney, received a total salary of $8,365,403 (approximately 10.29 billion KRW) from January 24 last year, when he joined, until he announced his resignation on April 29 of the same year. Considering he worked 70 days based on company workdays, he earned $119,505 (approximately 147 million KRW) per day.

Disney Plus logo [Image source=Asia Economy DB]

Including an additional severance pay of $4,006,849 (approximately 4.93 billion KRW) received as part of the termination agreement, the average amount he took home per day of attendance was $176,746 (approximately 220 million KRW).

Moreover, Disney supported $527,438 (approximately 650 million KRW) in moving expenses for Morell and his family to relocate from London, UK, to Los Angeles (LA), USA, and paid another $506,310 (approximately 620 million KRW) for family moving expenses two months after his resignation. Additionally, Disney purchased Morell’s Pasadena, California home, which he bought for $4.5 million in April last year, at the same price.

The moving support Morell received was 4 to 5 times the amount Disney gave to other executives around the same time. Last year, Disney paid $125,021 to Paul Richardson, Chief Human Resources Officer, and $81,246 to Horacio Gutierrez, Legal Counsel, under similar circumstances.

Morell’s extraordinarily high salary and severance pay were disclosed amid activist investor Nelson Peltz’s criticism of excessive executive compensation and his demand to participate in the board, which is expected to fuel further controversy.

Criticism is particularly focused on the fact that Morell, who was responsible for corporate communications and government affairs, was able to secure astronomical salary and severance pay in a short period despite mishandling the response to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s anti-LGBTQ education law, which caused significant backlash.

The main entrance of the Walt Disney Company located in Burbank, California.
[Photo by Reuters·Yonhap News]

Florida banned lessons and discussions on gender identity or sexual orientation in schools for kindergarten through third grade, but Morell and then-CEO Bob Chapek decided to remain silent and not engage in the sensitive issue, which led to strong protests from employees.

Under pressure from protests, they belatedly announced opposition to the bill, only to anger Governor DeSantis, resulting in criticism from both progressive and conservative sides.

According to WSJ, Morell also made a mistake by revealing the opening date of the confidential "Guardians of the Galaxy" roller coaster on Twitter during his tenure. Morell, who previously worked at the U.S. Department of Defense and British oil company BP, ended his brief but intense Disney career and currently serves as President of Global Strategic Communications at consulting firm Teneo Holdings in Washington, DC.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.