One Dollar CEOs

We study the impact of $1 CEO salaries on firm performance and CEO total compensation. We find that, on average, $1 CEO firms earn higher total compensation and lower stock market returns relative to their peers after the adoption of $1 salaries. The effect on total compensation is mitigated if the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Loureiro, Gilberto (author)
Other Authors: Makhija, Anil K. (author), Zhang, Dan (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1822/69289
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/69289
Description
Summary:We study the impact of $1 CEO salaries on firm performance and CEO total compensation. We find that, on average, $1 CEO firms earn higher total compensation and lower stock market returns relative to their peers after the adoption of $1 salaries. The effect on total compensation is mitigated if the $1 CEO firm is undergoing restructuring or the CEO is entrenched and aggravated if the CEO is overconfident. The stock market underperformance especially affects firms not under a restructuring process and firms with entrenched or overconfident CEOs.