JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is defending his gigantic $31.5 million paycheck. Dimon, who Forbes estimated has a fortune of $2 billion, is one of a handful of billionaires who have previously warned that the excesses of capitalism are threatening the foundation of society.
The remarks came during an interview with Axios on HBO about the bank’s multibillion-dollar pledge to combat racial inequality. Topics ranged from China to bitcoin, the latter of which Dimon called a fool’s gold for lacking intrinsic value.
It appears, however, that the JPMorgan board believes there’s real value in Dimon. When the topic turned toward his $31.5 million salary, he defended the compensation package, claiming it was the result of the country’s “free market” which “everyone should applaud.”
“The board decides what I make,” Dimon told Axios co-founder James VandeHei, echoing a response he gave Congress in May.
According to Bloomberg, the company’s board decided to pay Dimon the massive pay package for his work in 2020, and they’ve awarded millions more in stock options if the CEO sticks around for at least five years. The company has performed well under Dimon, it is the largest bank in the United States and the stock has risen over 30% year to date.
Dimon further explained his compensation, “We pay people to do a great job,” Dimon said. “They could all sell their services elsewhere. I need to maintain the best team on the playing field. And I need to pay them fairly to do that. You may not like that, but that’s what it is.”
VandeHei suggested that Dimon could afford to ask the board to cut his pay, but Dimon responded that JPMorgan’s board would take offense, adding that the CEO’s pay is part of an “umbrella” plan designed to retain executives.
"The American dream is fraying and income inequality is like the fault line," Dimon said in an interview with CNN, making it clear that while he may earn more each year than most Americans will in their lifetimes, he still believes that income inequality is a “huge problem,” and has warned that socialism was not the answer, saying it produces “stagnation, corruption and often worse.”
Sources: Bloomberg, New York Post, Axios