JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon defended his eye-popping $31.5 million salary as the result of the country’s “free market,” which “everyone should applaud,” during an interview about the bank’s multibillion-dollar pledge to combat racial inequality.
The company’s board paid Dimon the massive pay package for 2020, and they’ve awarded millions more in stock options if the CEO sticks around for at least five years.
“The board decides what I make,” Dimon told Axios co-founder James VandeHei in an interview that aired Sunday evening.
VandeHei suggested that Dimon – who’s worth about $2 billion, according to could Forbes – 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.
“We have a free market in this country, which … everyone should applaud,” 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.
