AmerisourceBergen CEO earned $14.7 million in company stock gains in 2019

Steven Collis, CEO of drug distributor AmerisourceBergen, made $14.7 million in his company's 2019 fiscal year based on the actual realized gains on his stock, according to new company disclosures.

The big picture: That amount was down from the $18.7 million Collis earned in 2018.

• But it's still above industry average and comes as the company is mired in thousands of lawsuits that allege it contributed to the opioid epidemic by not properly monitoring the flow of painkillers.

The big picture: AmerisourceBergen distributed 13 billion opioid pills throughout the country from 2006 through 2014, according to the Washington Post — a fact that has put AmerisourceBergen and other distributors in court.

By the numbers: A $1.9 million cash bonus was included within Collis' total. That bonus was based solely on three adjusted financial metrics and did not factor in quality or the opioid litigation.

• An AmerisourceBergen spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether the bonuses were appropriate given the company's legal troubles, but said in a statement the company's compensation structure does "not incentivize unnecessary risk-taking."

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