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ICANN Names New CEO, Will Pay Him $800,000 To Run the Internet

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-just-be-he-cann dept.

darthcamaro writes "ICANN has officially hired a new CEO to replace the Rob Beckstom. ICANN industry unknown Fadi Chehade is taking the top job — but there is a catch. He can't start for another 90 days, even though ICANN has been looking for a new CEO for months. Even better is Chehade's salary. ICANN will pay him $800,000 a year. Is the CEO of ICANN one of the highest paying jobs in the Internet governance landscape?"

35 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Hey, I'll do it for half that. by dgatwood · · Score: 2

    I can't imagine I'm the only one.

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    1. Re:Hey, I'll do it for half that. by youn · · Score: 2, Funny

      I'd definitely do it for half than that ... but if they insist on paying me 800k, I will not complain lol

      --
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    2. Re:Hey, I'll do it for half that. by __aadhrk6380 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Do you know how to run it? Seriously, everyone here has an opinion but do you have the expertise to run it? In a way that would make everyone happy and that would be net neutral and that would satisfy politics? In the real world? In a way that would allow Nepal to bitch and China to still express an opinion and have both the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Premier ready to come visit you at your house for drinks and a round of golf with you and Bill Murray?

      Bitch about $800k all you want, but at $400k I think we get a $400k run internet. Pay for performance is a world-wide metric. Do I want someone to do it for free? No, because that is what I will get in return. Open source it? Ok, which nation gets to run THAT? Anarchy? No thanks.

      The internet is not utopia. It is actually, however, the one resource no world power controls. RIAA and MPAA and a lot of other corporate powers would like to control it, a lot of nations would like to control it, but for $800k I am happy to let someone run one part of it who (a) Knows what he is doing and (b) makes enough doing so that bribery is not a major source of income.

    3. Re:Hey, I'll do it for half that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Bitch about $800k all you want, but at $400k I think we get a $400k run internet.

      Indeed, back when the internet was free of commercial interests ICANN was not needed, as people could (and would) get stuff done because they wanted to, for no charge.

    4. Re:Hey, I'll do it for half that. by amoeba1911 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Pay for performance is a world-wide metric.

      Please stop perpetuating lies. It's an old wives tale that has absolutely no scientific backing. Evidence shows the opposite: high compensation has a detrimental effect on productivity of creative white collar employees. (This does not apply to manual labor workers)

      http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/31/dan_ariely_asks/

      So yeah, I would like the guy getting paid $100k instead, and use the remaining $700k to add new fiber infrastructure.

    5. Re:Hey, I'll do it for half that. by rs79 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Postel did it for $15K/yr and the names, numbers and infrastructure grew more under Jon that at any other time. 250 tlds in a few years.

      ICANN: half a billion dollars and we got .coop

      The thing is, Jon knew how to configure a nameserver. How many of the six figure guys in ICANN do you suppose can do this?

      --
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  2. CEO Pay by religious+freak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If it's not the highest paid it probably should be. If someone can run ICANN they can run a lot of other stuff too. Competition for qualified talent is difficult at the CEO level.

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    1. Re:CEO Pay by Herkum01 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah, I mean, he has to run the business unit, ensure that sales and marketing are doing their jobs and that products are delivered to stores. Oh wait, HE AIN'T running a business at ALL!

      People keep trying to rationalize these salaries as if there is some CEO shortage. Really it all about the good ole boy network and I will pad your salary and you pad mine. I remember after the banking crash in 2008 and they had someone reviewing salaries at banks. Every banking officer claimed that they were above average and deserved a raise!

      I tell you what, lets set some goals for this guy as a CEO and if it meets them then he can have his huge salary. Otherwise this is just a welfare check to the overpaid.

    2. Re:CEO Pay by hondo77 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Competition for qualified talent is difficult at the CEO level.

      Says who?

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    3. Re:CEO Pay by Hatta · · Score: 2

      $800,000 isn't even all that much, when you're talking about executive pay. That's probably less than 10 times what an engineer at ICANN would make. In contrast, the average CEO made 380 times what the average worker made in 2011.

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    4. Re:CEO Pay by cjcela · · Score: 4, Funny

      Mod parent up. He is right on the money.

    5. Re:CEO Pay by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You should have used sarcasm tags.

      The thing I've seen over the years is that the good CEOs make a big difference for their companies. With the effects of their decisions being as important as they are they can swing billions of dollars one way or another.

      The bad ones can ruin a company, or at least drive it into the gutter.

      The problem is that both the good and bad get extremely high pay, and only the good ones are worth it.

      The way CEO incentives work is all wrong.

      Then the way boards and CEOs interact is often broken too.

    6. Re:CEO Pay by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Informative

      the average CEO made 380 times what the average worker made in 2011.

      No. The average CEO made far, far less than that. The figure you quote is only for CEOs of 300 of the largest public corporations. It doesn't include the millions of smaller corporations.

    7. Re:CEO Pay by Gorobei · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The "hire a great CEO" problem is very similar to the "hire a great programmer" problem.

      The real deal in both roles commands a huge salary, and is totally worth it. The trouble is, if your company doesn't already have one, it has no expertise to judge if the person they want to hire is worth the money.

      The second-rate software company that hires a $500/hour consultant is no different from the big firm that hires a $5000/hour CEO. They have little ability to judge skills, and so tend to get suckered by a smooth, well-groomed candidate.

      The firms with the expertise in place (e.g. Google for technical hires, Goldman Sachs for management hires) do not make this mistake, and shell out big bucks for the people who are actually worth it.

    8. Re:CEO Pay by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > I'm curious: how much do you think that someone who runs the internet should be paid?

      How much is enough?

      Keep in mind: Greed has no limit.

    9. Re:CEO Pay by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Apparently, you're right if you count only the salary, in which case a CEO makes roughly 90 times the worker salary. If you include all income, it is close to 500 times the worker salary. Sorry, but I don't see how this can be justified in terms of productivity or management skills or whatever.

      In 1970, CEO salary and bonus packages were typically about $700,000 - 25 times the average production worker salary; by 2000, CEO salaries had jumped to almost $2.2 million on average, 90 times the average salary of a worker, according to a 2004 study on CEO pay by Kevin J. Murphy and Jan Zabojnik. Toss in stock options and other benefits, and the salary of a CEO is nearly 500 times the average worker salary, the study says.

      From here

    10. Re:CEO Pay by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      John Postel used to do the same job of ICANN CEO and an entire swathe of their senior management for free. That was only 20 years ago.

      While the net may have increased in scale since then, its complexity has not, and its has not grown to the point where someone needs to be paid $800,000 a year plus bonuses etc just to keep it all ticking over.

      As for the "competition" at the CEO level; while there is indeed a worldwide race to the very bowels of vapidity, fecklessness, and incompetence in this field, again, the cream of this crop are not worth paying $800,000 a year for.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    11. Re:CEO Pay by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm curious: how much do you think that someone who runs the internet should be paid?

      2.718 times the average industrial wage.

      I believe that's somewhere in the region of $135,000, but I don't have exact figures for the median US wage. The multiplier is obvious.

      Do you think it should be less than priceline.com ($50M), Qualcomm ($36M), Viacom ($31M), Time Warner ($20M), and eBay ($15M).

      Yes. Moreover, I think that such salaries should not be permitted in publicly listed, limited liability companies.

      Presumably, he has the skillset to do most of these jobs.

      A screaming money casting its dung around the office probably has the skillset to run run them as well, since running them into the ground appears to be the only thing modern CEOs actually do in return for their compensation. That and engage in crime, but I digress.

      I find that I am comfortable with this number.

      Then doubtless you will be comfortable with the corresponding increase in your tax bill required to pay for it and the multitude of linked salaries. Moreover, you will of course be perfectly contented in seeing your own wages decrease in value of in real terms to support the increasingly bloated and unearned salaries of the class you so admire. Enjoy your banana republic.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    12. Re:CEO Pay by Raenex · · Score: 2

      Enough to be immune to luring away (or bribing) from the competition.

      Greed knows no limit. Somebody demanding an $800k per year salary could easily be bribed for a few million if they are prone to being bribed. What's really silly is just how little people can be bribed for, people who could afford the things they are being bribed with.

      The CEO of NPR makes $450K/year. The CEO of Unicef makes $473K/year. The CEO of the American Red Cross makes $1M/year. The CEO of the Boys & Girls Club makes $1M. This list could go on.

      The list just shows that CEOs are overpaid. Nothing new there. A CEO just needs to be a competent manager, and there are plenty of them around.

    13. Re:CEO Pay by ArsonSmith · · Score: 3, Informative

      "A CEO just needs to be a competent manager, and there are plenty of them around."

      Funniest thing ever said on slashdot!!

      --
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    14. Re:CEO Pay by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's so difficult that most corporations never manage it and yet they continue year after year

      --
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    15. Re:CEO Pay by LordLucless · · Score: 2

      Dude, he doesn't "run the internet". His job, apparently, is nothing more than finding new ways of polluting the gTLD namespace. If he didn't turn up for work for the next three months, the internet would not suddenly collapse.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    16. Re:CEO Pay by expatriot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You had my interest until you suggested RMS running the internet. 800k is a bargain if that is the compitition.

    17. Re:CEO Pay by expatriot · · Score: 2

      20 years ago most of the management was goverment or education organizations. Postel was employed by the University of Southern California.

  3. Reason by leromarinvit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Q: Why do you pay your CEO so much?
    A: Because ICANN.

    --
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  4. Only fair by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They got all those millions selling useless TLD's, they have to spend it somewhere.

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    1. Re:Only fair by Mashiki · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To to be honest, I always thought that it would be a good idea if you could have a carname.gm or carname.ford or item.microsoft, or routername.cisco, siri.apple instead of .com. It just makes sense outside of a tech circle. Doesn't it make sense when you think about it? Governments should have a country.gov though, and same for countries. Yeah it might seem like a pain in the ass, and it is. But for the average person it's simple, it makes sense.

      But then again, for duplicate companies and all that there'd be hell to pay.

      --
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  5. Re:that's a lot of scratch by Mr+Thinly+Sliced · · Score: 2

    This may come as a bit of a surprise, but I think you're doing it wrong.

    Nowadays there are many easy to install DVD or CD images you can burn that won't involve fecal matter or ejaculate in the slightest.

    I'd also suggest diversifying your acquaintances a little, maybe mixing with some normal people.

    Glad to see Linux has another devotee!

  6. Low by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Average pay for a S&P 500 CEO was 10.7 million in 2007.

    This guy has all those tubes to worry about.

  7. Ruin the internet? by gstrickler · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or am I the only one who first read it that way?

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  8. Why do we even need ICANN? by Cyberax · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What does it do? It doesn't administer number resources - IANA, ARIN, RIPE, and *NICs do that. ICANN doesn't administer root servers (various companies do that).

    WTF is he doing?

  9. wait by macshit · · Score: 3, Funny

    What does ICANN actually do, anyway?

    I mean, besides supporting various tourist economies with their biweekly meetings in exotic locations...?

    --
    We live, as we dream -- alone....
  10. Talk about overpaid... by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ICANN doesn't do shit these days (it can be argued they hardly ever did). All the current ICANN does is find more crappy ideas to make money off of. By chance did they hire the pointy-haired boss from Dilbert?

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  11. Re:On top of that.. by TFAFalcon · · Score: 2

    Considering the rules of the UN, that's mostly the only thing they CAN do. The security council would nearly every other thing the general assembly tried to do. It's hard to find a project that none of the permanent members are against.

  12. It's all about the bribery. by goodmanj · · Score: 2

    You don't pay the heads of powerful regulatory agencies big bucks because their job is difficult. You pay them well to ensure that they are difficult to bribe.

    It's true that some of the corporations who'd stand to gain from bribing this guy can drop $800K like it's pocket change, but the larger the bribe, the harder it is to hide.