Michael Rapino
Music’s Top Money Makers: The Highest-Paid Executives and Stockholders at Publicly Traded Companies
Kang Hyo-won is not a marquee name in the music industry. The South Korean producer is better known as Pdogg, the studio wizard behind hits by K-pop supergroup BTS and other acts on the roster of Korean entertainment company HYBE. Because Kang played a key role in HYBE’s global success, his employer gave him 128,000 stock options in 2016 that turned into about $35 million when Kang exercised them. (All currency conversions to U.S. dollars in this story are based on the average 2021 exchange rate.) That made Kang the second-highest-paid music industry executive last year among those whose earnings are publicly disclosed. Yoon Seok-jun (aka Lenzo Yoon) and Kim Shin-gyu, co-CEO of HYBE America and chief artist management officer, respectively, also benefited from HYBE going public. Yoon nette...
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino’s 2021 Bonus Worth $10.5M
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino is set to collect $10.5 million in stock as part of his annual performance bonus after hitting certain financial goals, defined by the company’s Compensation Committee, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday (March 4). Rapino also receives a $3 million annual salary, but is expected report a salary below $3 million for 2021 because of a voluntary pandemic pay reduction. The value of the shares will certainly change by the time they fully vest based on the company stock price at that time. Friday’s shares are valued at $114 per share based on the company’s most recent closing price, with about $5.3 million worth of shares (46,272 shares) vesting by May 10 and equal amount vesting by Aug. 16. Live Nation president and CFO Jo...
Michael Rapino, Other Live Nation Execs Partially Forfeit Bonuses Due to COVID-19
Live Nation President Joe Berchtold and chief financial officer Kathy Willard also forfeited restricted stock today due to the revenue miss. A spokesperson for Live Nation told Billboard that regular stock and cash payments were also reduced as part of the adjustment. In April, Rapino announced he was reducing his salary to $0 as part of a cost-savings initiative at the company brought on by the pandemic. In 2019, the company’s compensation committee agreed to pay Rapino a $6 million cash bonus if the company achieved an adjusted operating income of $875.0 million, and between $6 to $12 million if he hit between 100% and 110% of the AOI target. Rapino ended up hitting 109% of his target AOI ($942 million) for a cash award of $11.4 million, which he deferred until the end o...
Live Nation Expects to Ramp Up Business in Three Months With Government Green Light
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino shared new information Thursday (Feb. 25) about the company’s plans for the return of live music. Once the concert promoter gets government approval to operate above a 50% capacity in the majority of territories where it hosts concerts, Rapino estimates the rehiring of employees and rescaling of the company will take three months. “We’ve been talking to our global employees about that kind of timeline when we can [promote] our first show at scale,” Rapino told analysts and investors on a company conference call Thursday for the company’s year-end earnings report. During the three-month period, the company will “start bringing back marketing, production [and] all the kind venue functions” adding that the company can expect to ramp up “between the onsale or the...
