Going public has made it rain for DraftKings Inc. co-founders Jason Robins, Mathew Kalish and Paul Liberman, who pocketed combined total compensation of more than $600 million in 2020.
In the online sports betting company’s
DKNG,
For Kalish, who is also president of DraftKings North America, total compensation last year rose to $197.24 million from $2.11 million in 2019, while Liberman, who is also president of global technology and product, had total compensation of $197.24 million in 2020 after $2.14 million the year before.
The compensation included “Super Bowl expenses,” the company said, which represented costs for game-day tickets, special events, travel and accommodations.
DraftKings went public a year ago through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., in a deal that valued the company at more than $6 billion. When the deal was announced in December 2019, the company said it would have more than $500 million of cash on the balance sheet.
Since April 23, 2020, when the merger closed, DraftKings stock has rocketed 309.1% through through Monday, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
Don’t miss: Here are 5 things to know about DraftKings, after it went public and fetched a $6 billion market cap.
The breakdown of the compensation packages for the co-founders shows that the bulk of the money in 2020 came from stock awards. Here is the breakdown for each co-founder:
Robins:
• Salary: $650,000, up from $400,000 in 2019.
• Bonus: $2.98 million, after $0 in 2019.
• Stock Awards: $231.18 million.
• Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $1.95 million, after $800,000 in 2019.
• All other compensation: $75,724, including $66,724 in Super Bowl expenses.
Kalish:
• Salary: $425,000, up from $300,000 the year before.
• Bonus: $1.5 million, after $0 in 2019.
• Stock awards: $194.21 million.
• Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $1.06 million, after $480,000 in 2019.
• All other compensation: $36,898, including $28,348 in Super Bowl expenses.
Liberman:
• Salary: $425,000, after $300,000 in 2019.
• Bonus: $1.5 million, after $0 the year before.
• Stock awards: $194.21 million.
• Non-equity incentive plan compensation: $1.06 million, after $480,000 in 2019.
• All other compensation: $22,044, including $13,494 in Super Bowl expenses.
