Electronic Arts CEO’s pay declines to just under $20 million

Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson was paid $19.9 million in the 12 months ending March 31, 2022, down from $39.2 million, according to a new company filing.

Why it matters: Wilson’s pay for the year prior was subject to a rare but nonbinding “no” vote from shareholders last June, who took issue with EA’s executive bonuses.

• The publisher of Madden and The Sims said a year ago that it got the message and would shrink or forgo some bonuses for the next few years.
• Wilson’s drop in income is largely due to that change. The CEO was given a $30 million stock grant in 2021, but a lower $18 million one for the past year.

The big picture: The numbers are certainly lower but still within the stratosphere of executives of multibillion-dollar corporations.

Between the lines: As is typical at megacorps, top EA execs, including Wilson, receive income through a mix of salary, cash bonuses and stock grants, some of which take years to vest and are tied to company performance metrics.

• Required salary disclosures for EA’s top-paid execs indicate that all who had been at the company since 2021 received bonuses to their base salary. That included a 3.2% boost for Wilson, to $1.3 million a year, which is “in line with Company-wide base salary merit increases for strong performers,” according to the filing.

In deciding performance-based payouts, the board determined that EA had achieved its targets of releasing planned games within the fiscal year, kept its gaming services online over 99% of the time and increased workplace diversity, among other criteria.

• It says it exceeded its goals in terms of high employee satisfaction scores and growth in live-service games.
• It says it was “slightly below target” regarding mobile gaming transactions and competitive gaming viewership, which it said grew “slightly below target.”

Fine print: EA says its median employee income is $115,569. Last year, it reported a median employee income of $123,935, up from $97,986 the year before that.

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