AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) found a new 52-week low Tuesday morning, though it’s pared some losses in recent minutes as its CEO took to Twitter to talk about freezing pay for top execs.
“Biggest inflation in 40 years, so in 2023 companies will grant large % salary raises,” CEO Adam Aron said on Twitter. “But I do not want ‘more’ when our shareholders are hurting. So, I recommended to the AMC Board to red circle and freeze both my target cash and target stock pay for 2023. NO INCREASE.”
Meanwhile, “I also ‘asked’ our most senior officers (15-20 executives)” to forgo increases to cash salaries for the new year, Aron said. “When CEOs ‘ask,’ execs to their credit usually agree.”
It’s the “right thing to do,” Aron continued.
“I have fans and bashers on Twitter, those who agree or disagree with my decisions. But know this: my motives are pure. I try as best as I know how to lead AMC through the painful aftermath of this horrid pandemic,” Aron said.
AMC stock (AMC) is down 7.2% Tuesday morning, adding on to the past month’s decline of 43.8%.
According to AMC’s proxy statement for 2021, Aron received $1.45M in salary for that year along with stock awards amounting to $11.44M and non-equity incentive pay of $6M, adding up to total compensation of just under $19M. Chief Financial Officer Sean Goodman was the next-highest paid named executive, receiving $4.7M in total compensation for that year.