In advance of its Annual General Stockholders Meeting, which takes place on May 27, WWE released its mandatory SEC filing outlining the company’s recommendations on two key items that will be voted on at the meeting: nominees as Board Directors; and Executive and Board compensation for the year.
Directors
In addition to existing Directors Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Paul (Triple H) Levesque, other existing Directors that are being recommended for continuation in their Board seats are:
- Erika Nardini, CEO of Barstool Sports;
- Laureen Ong, who previously ran various TV specialty networks and now is a consultant in the media industry;
- Steve Pamon, a Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated producer who most recently served as President of Parkwood Entertainment, which was founded by global entertainer Beyoncé
- Frank Riddick III, who formerly acted as interim CFO for the company, and before that held several senior executive positions in the steel and manufacturing sectors;
- Man Jit Singh, most recently the President of Home Media for Sony Entertainment;
- Jeffrey R. Speed, former EVP and CFO of the Six Flags theme park empire; and
- Alan M. Wexler, Senior Vice-President of Innovation and Growth at General Motors.
New proposed Board members are:
- Nick Khan, current company President and Chief Revenue Officer;
- Steve Koonin, CEO of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, and former President of Turner Entertainment Networks; and
- Connor Schell, who has held senior executive positions with Disney and ESPN, where he founded and was executive producer of the “30 for 30” series.
Executive Compensation
The company’s executive compensation package is comprised of three elements: a fixed base salary, and variable incentive compensation in the form of cash (short-term incentive) and equity (long-term incentive).
For 2021, Executive base salaries are:
- Vince McMahon – $1.4MM (all figures USD);
- Nick Khan – $1.2MM; and
- Paul Levesque, Stephanie McMahon, and Kristina Salen (Chief Financial Officer) – $730K.
In 2020, total compensation – including salary and incentives – for the McMahons were as follows:
- Vince – $3.9MM;
- Triple H – $2.3MM; and
- Stephanie – $2.1MM.
In addition to the above, both Triple H and Stephanie also have additional compensation agreements in place as performers, with minimum payments of $1MM and $750K, respectively, relating to pay for performing in live events and royalties for merchandise sold that includes their likeness.
Other Notes
- Nick Khan was the highest-paid member of the executive team, making a total of $12.9MM, of which $6.8MM was in the form of stock awards and $5MM was a signing bonus subject to repayment clauses should he leave the company within three years of starting (he joined in August 2020).
- Other senior executives in the company are: Bradley M. Blum, Executive Vice-President of Operations, and Kevin Dunn, Executive Producer & Chief Global Television Production. Their compensation was not included in the executive compensation notes in the SEC statement, so presumably they are under a different category for this purpose.
- In 2020, Shane McMahon received minimum guaranteed performance fees and royalties aggregating approximately $820,369 in his contract as a performer.
- In 2020, WWE billed Alpha Entertainment LLC – the Vince-McMahon-owned company that owned the XFL – $1.01MM for administrative support services before Alpha’s bankruptcy. All amounts owed for the work was recouped.
