Heiress and shareholder Abigail Disney on how to bring magic back to capitalism

Abigail Disney, a grandniece of Walt Disney and shareholder within the media large, went viral back in 2019 when she criticized former CEO Bob Iger’s $66 million compensation package. Ever since, the Disney heiress — who’s a documentary filmmaker and social activist — has used her reference to the corporate to make the case for broader adjustments in company America related to the pay fairness issue, and to redefine success in a company context.

“How can you call a company successful when people are suffering?” Disney lately advised CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on the ESG Impact digital summit. “Part of the problem of this is in how we define the idea of what a successful company is, and if we pushed human interest to the center of our set of calculations about the well-being of a company, we would feel very differently about Disney as a successful company.” 

Disney, who lately launched the documentary, “The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales,” mentioned she thinks of ESG as one side of a a lot bigger set of rules that decide how an organization operates and decide what it might probably and can’t do.  

“It’s also a question of helping companies do the right thing,” Disney mentioned. 

Worker points are, in actual fact, the No. 1 ESG theme, in accordance to polling of the American public. The polling finds that paying a good and residing wage is the single-most important issue for Americans when requested what they need to see corporations do.

Disney would not purchase the argument that the market dictates wages. “The market is a bit of a yardstick, but it’s not really dictating anything,” she mentioned. “These are boards of directors that are populated by people who are CEOs or would like some day to be CEOs and are loyal to the class … they identify with the CEO,” she mentioned.

A Disney spokesman mentioned in an emailed assertion to CNBC, “Our amazing Cast Members, storytellers, and employees are the heart and soul of Disney, and their wellbeing is our top priority.” The Disney spokesman cited “competitive pay and leading entry wages,” inexpensive medical protection, entry to tuition-free increased schooling, and sponsored youngster take care of eligible workers.

Just Capital, the ESG analysis nonprofit that produces the polling of the American public on company problems with significance, ranks Disney No. 1 among media companies general in its annual rating of the highest 100 corporations, however its lowest category score is workers, the place Disney ranks 10th amongst 15 media corporations.

In March, Disney shareholders voted in favor of a proposal for better transparency on pay knowledge, together with knowledge associated to race and gender, a uncommon loss for Disney administration in a proxy battle which garnered assist from 60% of stockholders. According to a June article from entertainment publication The Wrap, Abigail Disney is gearing up for an additional shareholder struggle subsequent yr in opposition to the pay of present Disney CEO Bob Chapek, whose compensation doubled final yr to $32.5 million.

Disney, who advised the FT in 2019 that she had a internet value of $120 million and known as herself a “traitor” to her class, would not assume that the concept of wealth redistribution is important.

“I don’t think we need to do redistribution. But I think we need to think more carefully about pre-distribution, and maybe businesses need to be taking less as owners and seeing the workers as their true partners who deserve to participate in profits just as deeply,” she mentioned. “Capitalism is the invisible hand that creates a kind of magical surplus when it’s worked right. And it can still do that, without being this, you know, predatory entity that it has become,” she added.  

Watch the ESG Impact video under for extra of the Disney heiress and shareholder’s views on CEO compensation and employee pay.