Netflix, Disney Lead List of Highest-Paid Big Media Law Chiefs

Netflix Inc., Walt Disney Co., and Comcast Corp. paid law department leaders the most last year among media companies, showing the importance they place on retaining and recruiting top in-house legal talent.

David Hyman, a longtime top lawyer at Netflix, received almost $13.7 million, the most of any legal chief at a major media company, according to its most recent proxy statement. Disney general Horacio Gutierrez, hired by the media giant in 2022, received nearly $11.7 million and had his contract extended through 2026.

Comcast’s Thomas Reid, a former chairman and managing partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell, came in third at roughly $11.2 million. Comcast’s proxy marked the first time the company, which owns NBCUniversal Media, disclosed Reid’s pay since it noted his $9.3 million package in 2020, a year after he came aboard.

Media companies have been leaning on their in-house lawyers to navigate thorny antitrust and copyright issues, while also trying to remain competitive in a fast-changing field with increasingly stressed bottom lines. Paramount Global earlier this month walked away from an offer to merge with Skydance Media.

Lee Udelsman, a veteran in-house legal recruiter, said major media companies are often household names with large legal staffs that deal with “precedent-setting legal and business issues” almost daily. If that’s not an attractive enough proposition, the pay can also be good.

“It’s all about the three C’s—cash, cachet, and complexity of legal work,” said Udelsman, a managing partner at Major, Lindsey & Africa. “We live in a digital world where content is available to the consumer 24 hours a day. Whether it’s Disney or Netflix, these companies are at the center of the action.”

Bloomberg Law examined proxy statements for law heads at companies in the mass media, telecommunications, and entertainment and leisure space. Social media companies and consumer-oriented technology titans, as well as gaming enterprises that own media assets, were excluded from our ranking.

Fox, Liberty

Fox Corp.’s former legal and policy chief Viet Dinh, who in the past has been No. 1 when it comes to media legal chief pay, came in fourth during fiscal 2023 at more than $10.7 million. Dinh stepped down at the end of last year following a $787 million defamation settlement. He was succeeded by Adam Ciongoli, though Dinh remains an adviser to the Murdoch family-led media giant.

Two top lawyers at companies controlled by John Malone fill out the top six.

Renee Wilm, chief legal and administrative officer for Liberty Media Corp., was paid about $7.9 million in 2023. Her total compensation was a substantial increase over the $2.5 million she received in 2022. Wilm earned an additional $4.9 million last year as legal chief for four other Malone-related entities.

Malone’s Liberty Global Ltd., which just bought the Formula E electric car racing series from Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., paid its top lawyer Bryan Hall $9.3 million last year with the bulk of that sum being stock and option awards.

Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t list its legal chief Savalle Sims as among the company’s five highest-paid executives in 2023.

One outlier was Grant Dixton, who until this year was the lead lawyer at Activision Blizzard Inc., a videogame maker recently sold to Microsoft Corp. Dixton had a severance package valued at between $14.2 million to $14.8 million. An Activision spokeswoman declined to detail what Dixton received.

The Rest of the Pack

Total compensation figures for other media industry legal leaders below include stock grants that often vest in later years. Lawyers that left their jobs may forfeit those awards. Base salary, bonuses, and non-equity incentive plan compensation are noted parenthetically as cash pay.

Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. – Daniel Emerson; $8.1 million ($850,000)

Endeavor Group Holdings Inc. – Seth Krauss; $6.3 million ($4 million). Krauss’ cash compensation includes the base salary and bonus he received as chief legal and administrative officer for TKO Group Holdings Inc., which Endeavor formed after finalizing its takeover last year of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

Altice USA Inc. – Michael Olsen; $6.3 million ($1 million)

Paramount Global – Christa D’Alimonte; $5.8 million ($3.1 million). D’Alimonte is leaving at month’s end after Paramount terminated her employment contract, giving her roughly $6.5 million in severance.

News Corp. – David Pitofsky; $4.6 million ($2.6 million)

IAC Inc. – Kendall Handler; $4.6 million ($2.1 million)

AMC Networks Inc. – James “Jamie” Gallagher; $4.4 million ($3 million)

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. / Lionsgate Studios Corp. – Corii Berg; $4.3 million ($742,300). Berg resigned in late 2022 with $1.6 million in severance and was succeeded by Bruce Tobey.

Gray Television Inc. – Kevin Latek; $4 million ($2.2 million)

Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. / Sphere Entertainment Co. – Jamal Haughton; $4 million ($2 million). Haughton’s compensation is a blend for both companies, which hired Laura Franco to succeed him after he left to become legal chief for cable giant Charter Communications Inc.

Liberty Latin America Ltd. – John Winter; $3.7 million ($732,500)

The New York Times Co. – Diane Brayton; $2.8 million ($1.4 million)

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. – Patrick Donnelly; $2.8 million (almost all cash)

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. – Michael Rowles; $2.8 million (almost all cash)

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. – Kevin Connor; $2.8 million ($1.2 million)

Cinemark Holdings Inc. – Michael Cavalier; $2.7 million ($1.6 million)

iHeartMedia Inc. – Jordan Fasbender; $2.3 million ($1.5 million)

Sinclair Inc. – David Gibber; $2.2 million ($1.3 million)

Ziff Davis Inc. – Jeremy Rossen; $1.8 million ($717,500)

Tegna Inc. – Akinyale Harrison; $1.3 million ($250,000). Harrison resigned last year to join FGS Global and was replaced by former Vox Media legal chief Lauren Fisher, who earned $1.1 million from Tegna, including a $200,000 signing bonus.

EchoStar Corp. – Dean Manson; $1.2 million ($1.1 million). EchoStar merged with Dish Network Corp. in January 2024.

Buzzfeed Inc. – David Arroyo; $1.1 million ($375,000)