Leaked document allegedly reveals top Sony salaries

Michael Lynton

A document purporting to reveal the salaries of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s top executives has been leaked.

Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of SPE parent Sony Entertainment; his co-chair at SPE, Amy Pascal; Sony Pictures Television president Steve Mosko; programming co-presidents Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht; and worldwide networks president Andy Kaplan were all named in the file.

A blogger at Fusion.net claimed he had received a spreadsheet of the 17 Sony executives earning more than US$1 million (€800,000) from an anonymous account.

This alleges that Lynton and Pascal earn US$3 million per annum in basic annual salaries, while Mosko – who has been credited with spurring major growth at SPT as other parts of the Sony empire suffer – takes home US$2.8 million.
Production chiefs Van Amburg and Erlicht both earn US$1.5 million, while worldwide channels boss Kaplan pockets almost US$1.4 million.

The leak is part of an extended cyber attack on the Japanese-owned Hollywood studio, which was attributed to a group calling itself Guardians of Peace (or #GOP).

The attack is also being linked to North Korea. The country is said to angry over an upcoming comedy film, The Interview, in which undercover CIA agents posing as journalists plan to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A number of unreleased movies, including the remake of musical Annie, have since been leaked. This marks the first point in which executives’ personal details have been made public, though the #GOP released a grim mocked-up graphic image of Lynton and Pascal’s heads on the Scales of Justice.

Sony is currently in lockdown as it attempts to bring the situation under control. The FBI has said it is working to catch the perpetrators.