Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble’s Pay Package Leaps 87% as Theater Chain Trims Losses
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble’s compensation soared 87% last year as he guided the movie theater chain through a post-pandemic readjustment that shaved its annual losses by a third.
Gamble took over as president and CEO of the nation’s third-largest theater chain in January 2022, after serving as chief financial officer since 2018 – and his salary bumped up along with it, according to a regulatory filing submitted Thursday.
His take-home pay rose 20%, to $825,000 from the $687,857 he earned in 2021 when he was chief financial officer.
He was also granted a $1.4 million cash bonus, up from $963,000 in 2021.
The largest increase in his compensation package, however, came from stock awards.
Gamble received more than $3.6 million in restricted stock awards, including a special grant when he took the company’s helm.
Like many publicly traded firms, the company uses stock awards to align executive’s goals with those of shareholders. It stated in the filing, called a proxy statement, that a “substantial majority” of its executive officers’ compensation is “variable” and “tied to our financial performance.” The formula for doling out the awards based on revenue and other metrics is set by the company’s board early in the year and voted on by shareholders.
The plans for 2023 compensation will be subject to a shareholder vote on May 18.
Cinemark’s 2022 was a bit of a roller coaster ride. The Plano, Texas-based chain started the year by narrowing its losses, despite a COVID-19 surge that kept audiences away from theaters.
A summer box office surge helped lift the company’s second quarter results, driving revenue higher and again showing a smaller loss as Cinemark trimmed its costs. The third quarter also showed improvement over the prior year, even as the box office slowed at the end of the summer.
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The box office success of “Avatar 2” couldn’t help the company overcome a sluggish holiday season marred by early winter storms.
For the year, Cinemark reported a loss of $271.2 million, or $2.26 per share, cutting by a third the loss of $422.2 million reported for 2021. Revenue spiked 63% to $2.45 billion.
The company also paid down $21 million in debt during the year.
Melissa Thomas, who joined the company as CFO in November 2021, actually took home less in 2022 than she did in 2021, the filing showed. Her 2022 compensation package, including a $575,000 salary and $987,849 in stock awards, totaled $2.4 million. In 2021, she earned $4.1 million, almost all of which came from $3.5 million in stock awards tied to her joining the company. The former CFO of Groupon, she also recieved a $500,000 cash signing bonus when she took the job.
In late morning trading, Cinemark shares added 50 cents, or 3.5%, to $14.85. The stock has changed hands between $8.28 and $19.76 in the past 52 weeks, and has soared 76% since the start of this year.
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