What Did VeriSign's (NASDAQ:VRSN) CEO Take Home Last Year?
Jim Bidzos has been the CEO of VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) since 2011, and this article will examine the executive's compensation with respect to the overall performance of the company. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for VeriSign.
Check out our latest analysis for VeriSign
How Does Total Compensation For Jim Bidzos Compare With Other Companies In The Industry?
According to our data, VeriSign, Inc. has a market capitalization of US$25b, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth US$9.0m over the year to December 2019. This means that the compensation hasn't changed much from last year. While we always look at total compensation first, our analysis shows that the salary component is less, at US$925k.
For comparison, other companies in the industry with market capitalizations above US$8.0b, reported a median total CEO compensation of US$11m. So it looks like VeriSign compensates Jim Bidzos in line with the median for the industry. What's more, Jim Bidzos holds US$177m worth of shares in the company in their own name, indicating that they have a lot of skin in the game.
Component | 2019 | 2018 | Proportion (2019) |
Salary | US$925k | US$913k | 10% |
Other | US$8.1m | US$8.3m | 90% |
Total Compensation | US$9.0m | US$9.2m | 100% |
Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 14% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 86% of the pie. VeriSign pays a modest slice of remuneration through salary, as compared to the broader industry. It's important to note that a slant towards non-salary compensation suggests that total pay is tied to the company's performance.
VeriSign, Inc.'s Growth
VeriSign, Inc. has seen its earnings per share (EPS) increase by 15% a year over the past three years. It achieved revenue growth of 2.2% over the last year.
Shareholders would be glad to know that the company has improved itself over the last few years. It's nice to see revenue heading northwards, as this is consistent with healthy business conditions. Looking ahead, you might want to check this free visual report on analyst forecasts for the company's future earnings..
Has VeriSign, Inc. Been A Good Investment?
We think that the total shareholder return of 89%, over three years, would leave most VeriSign, Inc. shareholders smiling. This strong performance might mean some shareholders don't mind if the CEO were to be paid more than is normal for a company of its size.
To Conclude...
As previously discussed, Jim is compensated close to the median for companies of its size, and which belong to the same industry. Investors would surely be happy to see that returns have been great, and that EPS is up. Indeed, many might consider that Jim is compensated rather modestly, given the solid company performance! Stockholders might even be okay with a bump in pay, seeing as how investor returns have been so strong.
CEO pay is simply one of the many factors that need to be considered while examining business performance. That's why we did our research, and identified 2 warning signs for VeriSign (of which 1 is potentially serious!) that you should know about in order to have a holistic understanding of the stock.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking at a different set of stocks. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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