McDonald’s had a strong year in 2017, and that was good for Steve Easterbrook.
The burger giant’s CEO received $21.8 million in total compensation last year, a raise of $6.4 million, or 42%, over his 2016 pay.
The increase is close to the 41% increase in McDonald’s stock price in 2017, which was the strongest-performing restaurant brand stock on Wall Street last year.
Easterbrook’s pay package includes a $1.3 million salary, $5.3 million in stock awards, another $5.3 million in option awards and $9.1 million in incentive compensation.
McDonald’s strong 2017 was also good for the chain’s other top executives.
Doug Goare, McDonald’s chief restaurant officer, was the second highest-paid company executive. He made $5.6 million, up 15% over the year before.
Kevin Ozan, the chain’s chief financial officer, received a 23% pay raise, to nearly $5.5 million. CMO Silvia Lagnado received a 15% raise to nearly $4 million.
Chris Kempczinski received a more than $2 million bump to $3.8 million in his first year as president of McDonald’s USA.
The Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s has undergone numerous changes since Easterbrook took over as CEO in 2015 amid a multiyear sales slump. The company added all-day breakfast, cut the number of restaurants, reorganized management and overhauled the executive staff.
Global same-store sales increased 5.3% last year. In its key U.S. market, same-store sales increased 4.5% in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. The company added delivery in many restaurants, focused on product improvements, added new coffee drinks and set the stage for a spring introduction of fresh-beef Quarter Pounders made to order. It's also investing $6 billion to speed up the introduction of self-order kiosks.
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