Take-Two's Executive Pay Sees Significant Increase

The compensation of Take-Two's top executives has seen a substantial increase, as revealed in the company's latest annual proxy filing. According to the filing, the pay of CEO Strauss Zelnick and company president Karl Slatoff has been doubled. As reported by Axios, the total compensation for both executives amounts to $72.3 million, comprising a mix of cash and stock, with a 60/40 split between them. In fiscal 2023, Zelnick's actual compensation was $42.1 million, marking a more than two-and-a-half-fold increase from the previous year, although slightly lower than the amount received in fiscal 2021. The executives receive their compensation jointly through the management company ZMC, in which they are partners. The previous fiscal year saw Zelnick and Slatoff receiving $30 million. A revised compensation agreement was implemented in 2022, increasing the performance-based portion of their pay to 71-77%. Furthermore, 25% of their potential compensation is now tied to the company's growth goals for microtransactions, up from the previous 12.5%. In a letter to shareholders, Zelnick referred to the last fiscal year as a 'milestone year' for Take-Two, highlighting net bookings of $5.28 billion, largely driven by the acquisition of mobile developer Zynga. Although revenues increased by 53% for the year, the company posted net losses of $1.12 billion, following years of net profits.