That’s not how public companies work. CEO compensation is determined by the board and the board is elected by the shareholders. If a CEO makes a lot of money, it’s because the owners of the company think it’s worth the money.

I work in finance and your buddy buddy old boys club isn’t true. Shareholders want as much money as possible and the relationship between them and management is often antagonist: many a CEO are laid out to dry every year by investors.

As such, there’s only one reason why Bob Iger gets paid so much: because he’s generated tremendous value for shareholders over the years and the shareholders want to incentize him to keep generated value.