Very interesting news comes to us from the United States. According to the latest reports, the president of Electronic Arts – Andrew Wilson has recently had to accept a significant reduction in salary. In total, the “head of EA” in 2021 earned two times less than two years ago. What are the reasons for such a drastic wage cut?
CEO of EA has to tighten his belt? I don’t think so…
If the “average” citizen heard that his salary would be reduced twice from the beginning of the next year, he would have the right to start panic. As it turns out, Andrew Wilson, the president of Electronic Arts, had to deal with similar news recently . For those unfamiliar with the subject, it is worth noting that EA is an American company that produces and publishes video games.
The achievements of the company founded in 1982 include such productions as FIFA, Battlefield, Unravel, UFC, F1, The Sims and Need for Speed . As you can see, the history of the Californian company is extremely rich, which makes it one of the most recognizable and respected developers on the video game market. Andrew Wilson took the lead at EA in September 2013.
Since then, there have been many changes in Electronic Arts. One of the first decisions of the new president was cutting jobs. As a result of the reorganization of work, the developer could afford to develop important interests and other areas of his activity. For example, EA signed a special contract with Disney in 2013. The partnership of both parties boiled down to the production and release of several games under the banner of Star Wars .
In the following years, we witnessed more or less successful decisions. EA has experienced significant marketing growth , but at some points their stocks on the stock market fell significantly. It was this factor that contributed to Andrew Wilson’s recent decline in salary. According to the latest reports, in the fiscal year just ended (April 2021 to March 2022) , the CEO of EA collected “only” $ 19.9 million. Compared to the previous year, the difference between salaries is almost $ 20 million!
What is the reason for the decline in EA CEO earnings?
More precisely, a year ago, Andrew Wilson could boast of earnings of $ 39.2 million in the same settlement. What is the reason for the two-fold decrease? As with most cases with such huge payouts, it is quite confusing. First of all, it should start with the fact that the remuneration of the current CEO of EA consists of several parts.
One of them is the salary, which in itself… has increased! This year it was $ 1.3 million, down from $ 1.25 million previously. This means that the salary from Electronic Arts has increased by about 4% . The final salary is cut due to the decline in bonuses from EA shares.
Interestingly , the shareholders decide about the cash prizes for the president of Electronic Arts. It was they who ordered Andrew Wilson to receive much lower gratuities from the shares of the American developer. During one of the recent votes, only 26% of shareholders were satisfied with the current payment system. The remaining 74% voted to cut bonuses for Andrew Wilson. Electronic Arts itself proposed to keep the awards for the president. The main argument was to “quadruple the value of EA shares during his tenure.”
Ultimately, however, the idea was voted through, and Wilson has to deal with “losing” nearly $ 20 million. Of course, with the next votes, the financial situation of the president of EA may return to the situation from a year ago. It is moderately possible, because Electronic Arts has recently made several moves that may have a significant impact on the company’s development also in financial terms.
We are talking primarily about the FIFA series . EA Sports recently announced that the latest FIFA 23 will be the last game in the series created in cooperation with Electronic Arts with the eponymous organization. In 2023, we will witness the premiere of the first football production of the new series, EA Sports FC . According to the announcements of the creators, the title is to introduce “football simulators to a completely new level”.
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One of the main initiators of the split with the FIFA federation was Andrew Wilson himself. The president of Electronic Arts in one of the conversations in the company’s offices announced that the name “FIFA” is currently associated primarily with a football game, and not with an international organization. Additionally, one of Wilson’s quotes echoed greatly – “FIFA has become only four letters on the cover of our game.”
Source: IGN
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