Median Berkshire employee salary over half of Buffett's pay
17 Mar 2018
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In an era of large income disparities between CEOs and their staff, Berkshire Hathway chairman Warren Buffet earns barely 1.87 times the average salary of his employees.
The median salary for a Berkshire Hathway employee last year was a little over half the $100,000 salary that chairman Warren Buffett was awarded for running the conglomerate that made him the world's third-richest person, Reuters reported.In a regulatory filing, Berkshire said Buffett's salary, unchanged for more than a quarter century, was about 1.87 times the $53,510 median pay, based on a sample of about two-thirds of Berkshire's 377,000 employees across some 90 businesses such as Geico insurance, the BNSF railroad and Dairy Queen ice cream.
This makes the Oracle Oklahoma's salary just 1.87 times of his employees' salaries.
According to Bloomberg report, Buffet also returned $50,000 of his salry to the company for using its facilities for personal use — “for minor items such as postage or phone calls that are personal,” meaning his take-home pay would be less than that median figure.
Buffett's $88.8 billion net worth trails only those of Amazon.com Inc chief Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, according to Forbes magazine.
Berkshire is working with Amazon and JPMorgan Chase & Co to develop a company that lowers healthcare costs. Gates is a Berkshire director and longtime friend of Buffett.
According to Friday's filing, Berkshire in 2017 also provided Buffett with $375,000 of home and personal security services, while Buffett, 87, reimbursed Berkshire $50,000 for personal expenses.
Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger, 94, drew his usual $100,000 salary in 2017, while chief financial officer Marc Hamburg's pay rose 46 per cent to $2.29 million, the filing said.
Pay was not disclosed for Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, the newly installed vice chairmen respectively overseeing Berkshire's non-insurance and insurance operations, but it will continue to be determined by Buffett,Reuters said.
Buffett controls 32 per cent of Berkshire's voting power.
He also owns 17.2 per cent of its stock, despite having donated more than $27.6 billion since 2006.
