Why Hollywood's highest-paid CEO out-earned Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds even as studio botched $38 billion deal
The highest-paid CEO in Hollywood earned $87 million in 2024, even as his studio failed to close a mega $38 billion merger.
The notion is that actors - stars, actually - make the most money in the world of cinema. To many, it makes sense. Their faces are on the posters; their names draw the crowds to the theatres. So, when the films make millions, the actors should be rewarded for their contribution. The highest-paid actor in the world, Dwayne Johnson, earned $88 million in 2024 from his film roles. That is a hefty sum. But surprisingly, a non-actor made $87 million in the same year. And that man is Hollywood's highest-paid CEO, a studio executive who out-earned the biggest superstars on the planet. (Also read: Paramount Global replaces CEO Bob Bakish with a troika of executives)
Hollywood's highest-paid CEO
The Hollywood Reporter unveiled its list of the highest-paid CEOs of Hollywood for the year 2024 earlier this week. The report revealed that the top-paid CEO in the entertainment world actually left the scene more than a year ago. Bob Bakish, the former CEO of Paramount Global, made $87 million in 2024. But there is a catch. Bakish quit Paramount in April 2024. Then how did he manage to out-earn 'heavy hitters' like Netflix's Ted Sarandos and Disney's Bob Iger? Bakish's $87 million payday included a hefty severance package worth $69.3 million, catapulting him to the top.
The next names in the list after him are Ted Sarandos of Netflix ($61.9 million), Greg Peters of Netflix ($60.3 million), David Zaslav of Warner Bros Discovery ($51.9 million), and Bob Iger of Disney ($41.1 million). The highest-paid woman CEO in entertainment - Jennifer Witz of SiriusXM - sits in the sixth spot with earnings of $37.1 million in 2024.
Bakish even out-earned some of the top Hollywood stars in 2024. Ryan Reynolds ($85 million), Brad Pitt ($32 million), Hugh Jackman ($50 million), and Tom Cruise ($19 million) all earned less than Bakish's $87 million in the year.
Bob Bakish's acrimonious exit from Paramount
Bob Bakish became the president and CEO of Paramount Global on December 4, 2019 after he moved to the studio from Viacom. In December 2023, Bakish and David Zaslav discussed a possible merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery, Axios reported. The resulting entity would have had a valuation of $38 billion. However, in February 2024, the talks were abandoned. Eventually, Paramount began negotiating with Skydance for a merger. In April 2024, Bakish announced that he would step down from his role as CEO of Paramount. Deadline reported that Skydance CEO David Ellison would take over as the board wanted him at the helm. That marked Bakish's exit from the entertainment world.
