The Centre for Policy Alternatives’ report, “The Golden Cushion: CEO compensation in Canada,” by senior economist David Macdonald has looked at Canada’s 100 highest-compensated CEOs across all industries for 2019.
Aphria’s CEO Irwin Simon’s compensation of 18.4 million Canadian dollars ($14.2 million) in 2019 made him the highest-paid cannabis executive in Canada that year, according to the listing
Simon is listed as the seventh-highest-paid executive.
Share-based awards (CA$12 million) accounted for most of the compensation, followed by nonequity incentives (CA$3.9 million) and salary (CA$2.6 million). It is the second year in a row Simon has appeared on the top-100 list. His 2018 compensation was estimated at CA$9.5 million.
MJ Biz report
Other cannabis industry executives on the 2019 list include:
- Michael Gorenstein, former CEO of Toronto-based Cronos Group (CA$15 million).
- Bruce Linton, former CEO of Smiths Falls, Ontario-headquartered Canopy Growth Corp. (CA$9.3 million).
- Sebastien St. Louis, CEO of Kanata, Ontario-based Hexo Corp. (CA$8.5 million).
None of the businesses reported a profit for fiscal 2019.
- Aphria reported a CA$16.5 million net loss.
- Cronos reported an operating loss of CA$121 million.
- Canopy reported a CA$670 million loss.
- Hexo lost CA$81.6 million.
Golden cushion
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Cannabis CEOs, led by Aphria’s Irwin Simon, are among Canada’s top-paid execs despite losses
