Communications CEO pay ratio
SEC EDGAR DEF 14A benchmarks for SIC 48. Highest in-industry ratio on this page: Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. at 1,378:1.
- Median pay ratio
- 87:1
- Average pay ratio
- 176:1
- Median CEO pay
- $10.8M
- Companies tracked
- 30
Data updated August 2026
Answer first
Communications sits at #42 of 63 SIC-2 industries by median CEO-to-worker pay ratio and #12 of 63 by median CEO pay - ratio rank is not dollar rank (30 FY2025 filers, median 87:1 / $10.8M).
Placement uses the same latest-fiscal-year-per-SIC medians as the Industries directory. Median-ratio rank #42 of 63 is not median-CEO-pay rank #12 of 63. Figures come from Section 953(b) Dodd-Frank DEF 14A disclosures - not estimates. Inside this SIC, Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. currently leads the in-page company list at 1,378:1.
- Median ratio
- 87:1
- #42 of 63 SIC-2 industries
- Median CEO pay
- $10.8M
- #12 of 63 by median dollars
- Filers
- 30
- FY2025 SIC 48
Ratio bands inside Communications
Exclusive CEO-to-median-worker bands across 25 complete FY2025 filings in SIC 48. Segments sum to the in-industry set, not the leader bars below.
Communications vs all SIC-2 industries
Unique-issuer pay ratios in this SIC as bars , plus live COUNT placement #42 of 63 industries by median CEO-to-worker pay ratio (35th percentile) . Corpus complete-filing median is 87:1; this industry's median is 87:1.
Filing-year trail · SIC 48
Same SIC-2 industry_benchmarks extract across FY2021–2025: median CEO-to-worker pay ratio, median CEO dollars, and filer count per fiscal year. Year-over-year deltas compare adjacent filing years only; they are not inflation-adjusted and do not invent missing years.
- Latest median ratio
- 87:1
- FY2025
- vs prior FY
- -19:1
- from FY2024 106:1
- Median CEO $ YoY
- +21%
- $10.8M latest
- Filer count YoY
- -10
- 30 in FY2025
| FY | Median ratio | Δ ratio | Median CEO pay | Δ pay | Filers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 111:1 | - | $11.1M | - | 33 |
| 2022 | 128:1 | +17:1 | $10.8M | -2.2% | 39 |
| 2023 | 105:1 | -23:1 | $8.9M | -18% | 39 |
| 2024 | 106:1 | +0.5:1 | $8.9M | +0.6% | 40 |
| 2025 | 87:1 | -19:1 | $10.8M | +21% | 30 |
Source: PlainCEOPay industry_benchmarks for SIC 48 (Communications), FY2021–2025. Each row is one fiscal-year cohort median, not a company-level panel.
Higher-third median CEO pay
Communications in the heavy-filer third
Communications median CEO pay $10.8M sits in the top third of SIC-2 industries (#12 of 63 by dollars). 30 FY2025 filers put Communications in the heaviest third by raw volume; prefer the 87:1 median ratio when comparing to thinner SICs.
The 25th percentile CEO earned $4.1M while the 75th earned $25.4M - a spread that shows how firm size and equity packages differ inside one SIC. The 176:1 average sits well above the 87:1 median, so a few very-high-pay CEOs are pulling the mean; the median is the fairer yardstick.
Below: each of the 48 Communications companies PlainCEOPay tracks in this SIC , with CEO total compensation, median worker pay, and pay ratios. Company pages compare each filing to this industry median. Figures are from SEC EDGAR filings - not estimates.
According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database, PlainCEOPay's August 2026 refresh processed 2,456 public companies with 1,423 complete FY2025 DEF 14A proxy filings (fiscal years 2021 through 2025) under Item 402(u) of Regulation S-K. See our methodology for parsing rules.
Companies in Communications (48 )
| # | Company | CEO Pay | Median Worker | Pay Ratio | FY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1437107 | $165.0M | $120K | 1,378:1 | 2025 |
| 2 | Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Latest filing FY2023 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1142417 | $29.1M | $57K | 509:1 | 2023 |
| 3 | T-Mobile US, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1283699 | $38.0M | $76K | 499:1 | 2025 |
| 4 | Liberty Global Ltd. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1570585 | $37.8M | $99K | 383:1 | 2025 |
| 5 | Comcast Corp SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1166691 | - | - | 381:1 | 2025 |
| 6 | Fox Corp Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1754301 | $101K | $101K | 327:1 | 2024 |
| 7 | Liberty Latin America Ltd. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1712184 | $16.9M | $52K | 322:1 | 2025 |
| 8 | Lumen Technologies, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 18926 | - | - | 260:1 | 2025 |
| 9 | Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1158324 | $25.4M | $98K | 259:1 | 2025 |
| 10 | Liberty Media Corp Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1560385 | - | - | 256:1 | 2024 |
| 11 | Verizon Communications Inc SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 732712 | $38.3M | $154K | 248:1 | 2025 |
| 12 | At&t Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 732717 | $29.9M | $139K | 215:1 | 2025 |
| 13 | iHeartMedia, Inc. Latest filing FY2023 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1400891 | $13.9M | $67K | 206:1 | 2023 |
| 14 | Gray Media, Inc SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 43196 | $11.5M | $57K | 202:1 | 2025 |
| 15 | Optimum Communications, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1702780 | $15.1M | $78K | 194:1 | 2025 |
| 16 | Sinclair, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1971213 | $10.8M | $56K | 194:1 | 2025 |
| 17 | Sinclair Broadcast Group, LLC Latest filing FY2022 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 912752 | $9.6M | $54K | 178:1 | 2022 |
| 18 | Paramount Global Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 813828 | $19.5M | $129K | 151:1 | 2024 |
| 19 | DISH Network CORP Latest filing FY2022 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1001082 | $10.8M | $73K | 149:1 | 2022 |
| 20 | Tegna Inc Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 39899 | - | - | 130:1 | 2024 |
| 21 | Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 20520 | $103K | $103K | 121:1 | 2024 |
| 22 | Cable One, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1632127 | $10.2M | $86K | 118:1 | 2025 |
| 23 | AMC Global Media Inc. Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1514991 | $8.7M | $82K | 106:1 | 2024 |
| 24 | EchoStar CORP Latest filing FY2024 SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1415404 | $8.9M | $85K | 105:1 | 2024 |
| 25 | AST SpaceMobile, Inc. SEC EDGAR DEF 14A, CIK 1780312 | $139K | $139K | 103:1 | 2025 |
Latest filing: 11 of the 25 issuers above have no FY2025 filing on file, so their row shows their newest earlier year (see the FY column). They are ranked here beside FY2025 filers and each carries the marker; the Communications benchmark and the lead figures on this page use FY2025 filers only.
Showing the top 25 unique CIKs by pay ratio (each issuer's latest filing). 23 additional Communications issuers are on company pages and the national rankings · browse all.
Communications median CEO pay $10.8M sits in the top third of SIC-2 industries (#12 of 63 by dollars). Open Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. for the in-SIC filing next to this median, or compare every SIC on the Industries directory.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.