Disney Gives Top Lawyer a Raise, Extends Employment Contract

Walt Disney Co. extended the employment agreement of its top lawyer, Horacio Gutierrez, two years after hiring him away from Spotify Technology SA.

Gutierrez will work through Dec. 31, 2026, and receive $1.5 million in annual base salary as of Jan. 1, Disney said in a Dec. 22 securities filing. His prior employment contract was set to expire at the end of next year.

Disney also promoted Gutierrez to chief legal officer from the role of general counsel. He will continue to serve as Disney’s chief compliance officer, a position he took on earlier this year after the company parted ways with Alicia Schwarz amid mass layoffs at the media conglomerate.

Disney recruited Gutierrez two years ago this month from Spotify, where he was general counsel and helped the podcast and music streaming company battle many of the same technology companies now competing with Disney. Gutierrez joined Spotify in 2016 after serving as general counsel for Microsoft Corp.

He received nearly $15.2 million in total compensation from Disney during fiscal 2022 after being tapped to succeed the Burbank, Calif.-based company’s retired legal chief Alan Braverman. Gutierrez now owns more than $856,000 in Disney stock, according to Bloomberg data.

His amended employment contract increases Gutierrez’s long-term equity incentive annual award to 600% of his new $1.5 million base salary, which going forward cannot be less than that sum each year. Future compensation increases will come at Disney’s discretion, the company said.

Gutierrez reportedly played a key role with other senior executives and the company’s board to oust Robert Chapek as chief executive in late 2022 and bring back longtime former corporate leader Robert Iger.

Disney’s in-house legal team has undergone other changes in the past year.

In October, Disney announced the retirement of its longtime London-based chief international counsel, Peter Wiley, who has been succeeded by former deputy chief counsel Nicola “Nikki” Keat.

In September, Disney disclosed its addition of a new chief counsel for its theme park business in A. Louise Pentland, most recently a retired chief legal and business affairs officer at PayPal Holdings Inc.

Disney also brought back former Hogan Lovells partner Rafael Ribeiro—whom it initially recruited in mid-2021 to handle anti-corruption and trade regulatory matters—earlier this year to be its deputy compliance chief.

The company has been embroiled in a high-profile dispute with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, over Disney’s self-governance privileges in the Sunshine State.

O’Melveny & Myers and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr are representing Disney in a lawsuit it filed this year against DeSantis that touched on several key issues before it was narrowed in September to focus on freedom of speech.