- Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a tax plan Monday that would penalize companies where CEOs make more than 50 times the median worker.
- There are 50 companies where the top executive makes more than 1,000 times the median worker, according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies.
- Listed below are the top 20 companies where the pay gap between workers and CEOs is more than 1,000.
- Tesla tops the list.
- Read more on Business Insider.
On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a new Income Inequality Tax Plan that aims to penalize companies where the top executive is paid more than 50 times what the median worker makes.
But at many companies the inequality Sanders aims to tackle is even more pronounced. According to a new study by the Institute for Policy Studies – which the presidential hopeful cited in his tax plan – there are at least 50 companies where the top executive is taking home more than 1,000 times what workers are making.
“At the 50 publicly traded US corporations with the widest pay gaps in 2018, the typical employee would have to work at least 1,000 years – an entire millennium – to earn what their CEO made in just one,” co-authors Sarah Anderson and Sam Pizzigati wrote in the September study.
The median CEO pay at these top 50 firms was $15.9 million in 2018, according to the study. For the typcial worker at the same firms, average 2018 pay was $10,027. Roughly 88% had temporary or part-time status in 2018, the study found. Further, 31% of them worked in China, Mexico, or another low-wage country.
The problem is prevalent even outside the top 50 firms with the widest pay gaps, according to the study. More than 80% of firms in the S&P 500 paid their CEO more than 100 times the median worker pay in 2018, IPS found. Only five firms in that group had ratios of less than 25-to-1.
But even that's a flawed measure of CEO wealth, according to the study. The majority of CEO real earnings come from holding company stock. Those can be as high as $87 billion for Warren Buffett at Berkshire Hathaway.
These kinds of pay incentives also factored into the IPS ranking. Elon Musk of Tesla makes more than 40,000 times the median worker, based on a $2.2 billion stock option he was awarded in 2018.
Here are the top 20 firms with the widest pay gaps between median workers and CEOs, according to the IPS report. They are organized by the pay ratio from smallest to largest.
20. Estee Lauder Companies
Ticker: EL
CEO: Fabrizio Freda
CEO Pay: $49 million
Median Worker Pay: $28,845
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 1,690
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
19. VF Corporation
Ticker: VFC
CEO: Steven E. Rendle
CEO Pay: $18 million
Median Worker Pay: $10,099
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 1,767
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
18. Nu Skin Enterprises
Ticker: NUS
CEO: Ritch Wood
CEO Pay: $6 million
Median Worker Pay: $3,382
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 1,793
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
17. Western Digital
Ticker: WDC
CEO: Stephen Milligan
CEO Pay: $20 million
Median Worker Pay: $10,999
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 1,795
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
16. McDonald's
Ticker: MCD
CEO: Stephen Easterbrook
CEO Pay: $16 million
Median Worker Pay: $7,473
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,124
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
15. Skechers USA
Ticker: SKX
CEO: Robert Greenberg
CEO Pay: $27 million
Median Worker Pay: $12,673
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,159
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
14. Jabil
Ticker: JBL
CEO: Mark Mondello
CEO Pay: $11 million
Median Worker Pay: $5,091
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,238
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
13. Universal Corporation
Ticker: UVV
CEO: George Freeman lll
CEO Pay: $4 million
Median Worker Pay: $1,528
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,429
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
12. Williams-Sonoma, Inc
Ticker: WSM
CEO: Laura Alber
CEO Pay: $27 million
Median Worker Pay: $11,137
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,447
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
11. Chipotle Mexican Grill
Ticker: CMG
CEO: Brian Niccol
CEO Pay: $34 million
Median Worker Pay: $13,779
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,450
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
10. G-lll Apparel Group
Ticker: GIII
CEO: Morris Goldfarb
CEO Pay: $18 million
Median Worker Pay: $7,101
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,493
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
9. Manpower Group
Ticker: MAN
CEO: Jonas Prising
CEO Pay: $11 million
Median Worker Pay: $4,563
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,508
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
8. Axon Enterprise
Ticker: AAXN
CEO: Patrick Smith
CEO Pay: $246 million
Median Worker Pay: $95,157
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,585
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
7. Aptiv Plc
Ticker: APTV
CEO: Kevin Clark
CEO Pay: $14 million
Median Worker Pay: $5,414
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,609
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
6. Yum China Holdings, Inc.
Ticker: YUMC
CEO: Joey Wat
CEO Pay: $11 million
Median Worker Pay: $3,885
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 2,731
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
5. Align Technology, Inc.
Ticker: ALGN
CEO: Joseph Hogan
CEO Pay: $42 million
Median Worker Pay: $13,180
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 3,168
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
4. Mattel
Ticker: MAT
CEO: Ynon Kreiz
CEO Pay: $19 million
Median Worker Pay: $5,489
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 3,408
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
3. Gap
Ticker: GPS
CEO: Arthur Peck
CEO Pay: $21 million
Median Worker Pay: $5,831
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 3,566
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
2. Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
Ticker: ANF
CEO: Fran Horowitz- Bonadies
CEO Pay: $8.5 million
Median Worker Pay: $2,317
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 3,660
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
1. Tesla
Ticker: TSLA
CEO: Elon Musk
CEO Pay: $2.2 billion
Median Worker Pay: $56,163
CEO-Worker Pay Ratio: 40,668*
Source: Institute for Policy Studies
*This outlier ratio is based on a $2.2 billion stock option award to the CEO in 2018, the IPS report said. According to the Tesla proxy statement, this award will fully vest over 10 years if the company's market capitalization increases to $650 billion (from a current $42 billion) and if the CEO achieves 12 of 16 performance benchmarks.