Mark Schilling writing for Variety:

 Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai received a big raise to $4.9 million for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2016, according to a securities filing to Japanese authorities. Minus stock options but including performance-based pay, this amount is 2.5 times his previous year’s compensation and beats the previous company record of $4.6 million set by former Sony CEO Howard Stringer in March of 2010 — the first time Sony was compelled to disclose top executive pay. 

Funny enough, while ‘doubling’ his annual pay sure sounds like a lot and let’s be honest, $4.9 million is no small pile of money, compared to the salary of CEOs here in the US, that’s mere chump change. For comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is paid $84 million yearly while Google CEO Sundar Pichai was compensated a little more than $100 million in 2015.

For Kazuo Hirai, this merely a reflection of his leadership that’s helped turn around many divisions at Sony, including PlayStation, home theater (read TVs), and digital imaging. Of course there is still a lot of work to be done at Sony, namely in their mobile division, but the company as a whole is on much more solid ground than it was just a few years ago.

Discuss:

Do you think the pay increase is warranted?