What is better: a company that makes a R200m profit with a CEO who earns R10m, or a company that makes a R1bn profit with a CEO who earns R100m?

If you are a shareholder, the obvious answer is the latter. That company delivers far better returns. The fact that the CEO earns 10 times that of the former company is irrelevant. Of course, there may be other considerations, such as wider inequality, that high executive pay may contribute to, but for a shareholder looking to maximise returns, highly paid CEOs are perfectly fine if they generate the profits...

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