Netflix, battered last year by a slowdown in its business, briefly had two CEOs. One was founder Reed Hastings. The other was his hand-picked partner Ted Sarandos. Hastings has stepped down recently. However, each made about $50 million last year, an extraordinary sum for executives at a troubled company.

Hasting made $51,073,237 in 2022, according to MyLogIQ, the AI-driven SEC information platform. Sarandos made $50,299,296.

Why was the compensation by the Netflix board so generous, given the public corporation’s barely mediocre results? They aren’t saying, nor will they. Netflix started 2022 with a share price of $600. It dropped to $293 at the year’s end. It is rare for CEOs to be paid so well for such extraordinarily poor performance.