CEO pay: Zooming out over the last 50 years

5/17/22 7:00PM

The bigger picture

‍Aside from the big individual stories this week, the debate on CEO pay, and inequality more generally, is likely to intensify as inflation squeezes the cost of living for workers — who have seen a 3-4% real pay cut on average, once adjusted for inflation.

Indeed, this updated chart above, using data from the EPI shows how CEO compensation has outstripped that of typical workers over the last 50+ years.

From 1965-1970 the average CEO of a top company in the US earned 23x that of a typical worker. By 1990 that was 74x. In 2020 the average top CEO's actual, realized compensation was more than 350x that of a typical employee (the realized vs. granted difference is primarily down to stock market returns, as stock options and equity usually make up the majority of CEO compensation deals).

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Chris Stokel-Walker11h

Max Knoblauch12h

Ford joins GM in backing off of its EV tax credit extension plan following GOP criticism

Ford, despite benefiting from an electric sales surge in recent months, is giving up on a clever accounting plan to extend the expired $7,500 EV tax credit to some of its customers.

Like its rival GM earlier this week, Ford on Thursday night confirmed to Reuters that it will not claim the tax credit, backing off from its short-lived leasing strategy.

The automakers’ plan was to extend the subsidy by using their financial arms to put down payments on electric vehicles already on their dealers’ lots in late September. Those transactions would qualify for the credit, and Ford and GM could pass the discount on to customers through leases.

But the strategy angered GOP senators, who last week wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accusing the automakers of “bilking” taxpayers.

Ford CEO Jim Farley last month said he expects the end of the tax credit to cut EV sales in half.

Exclusive: Ford reverses plan to claim EV tax credits, following GM

But the strategy angered GOP senators, who last week wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accusing the automakers of “bilking” taxpayers.

Ford CEO Jim Farley last month said he expects the end of the tax credit to cut EV sales in half.

Tom Jones

china crisis

17h

Porsche’s problems in China just keep getting worse

Sales in the region fell by more than a fifth in Q3.

Vintage Paint-Chipped Silver Porsche Speedster

Max Knoblauch

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Delta, boosted by premium ticket sales, says customers who go Comfort+ don’t go back

Delta’s third-quarter revenue beat Wall Street estimates on Thursday, led by 9% growth in its premium ticket category.

Tom Jones10/9/25

Domino’s just announced its first rebrand in 13 years — maybe a new, “doughier” font will help sales pick up

Shaboozey! Domino’s Sans! Hotter colors as a nod to the melty heat of a pizza pulled fresh from the oven!

In a buzzword-laden justification of its rebrand yesterday, Domino’s laid plain its new aesthetic direction, coined the term “Cravemark,” and announced it would be bringing the focus back to its food, having (at least in its executive vice president’s words) become known as “a technology company that happens to sell pizza” over the last decade.

It can’t go any worse than Cracker Barrel’s refresh efforts, at least...

The raft of changes, which will roll out across the US and other international markets in the coming months, includes a new “audio and visual expression” of the brand’s name (throwing a few extra M’s on the boxes and getting country/hip-hop artist Shaboozey to elongate the letter in a jingle); brighter packaging and hotter colors; “more youthful” team uniforms (company-color Salomons and an apron with “pizza is brat” on it, maybe?); and a new “Domino’s Sans” font, which is “thicker and doughier” and has circles and semicircles “in nod to pizza, with lots of personality baked right in!”

Domino’s is down about 2% so far this year.

Domino's® New Craveable Brand Refresh Makes You Say "Mmm" | Domino's Pizza