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Notable earners of one dollar salaries

Herbert Hoover

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Steve Jobs

A number of top executives in large businesses and governments have worked for a one-dollar salary.^[1]^[2]^[3] One-dollar salaries are used in situations where an executive wishes to work without direct compensation, but for legal reasons must receive a payment above zero, so as to distinguish them from a volunteer. The concept first emerged in the early 1900s, where various leaders of industry in the United States offered their services to the government during times of war. Later, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, many business executives began accepting one-dollar salaries—often in the case of struggling companies or startups—with the potential for further indirect earnings as the result of their ownership of stock. Many choose to reduce their salary so they can avoid income taxes.^[4]

Dollar-a-year men

In the early-to-mid-20th century, "dollar-a-year men" were business and government executives who helped the government mobilize and manage American industry during periods of war, notably World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. U.S. law forbids the government from accepting the services of unpaid volunteers.^[5] Those employed by the government had to be paid a nominal salary, and the salary establishes their legal relationship as employees of the government.^[6] During World War I, about 1,000 such people were employed by the United States.^[7] While they received only a dollar in salary from the government, most executives had their salaries paid by the companies.

The first known such employee was Gifford Pinchot, working for Theodore Roosevelt. After Pinchot, the United States Department of Agriculture employed several dollar-a-year men.^[8] On June 19, 1933, Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor appointed a five-member Labor Advisory Board, of whom two members came from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers union, of whom one, Sidney Hillman, was a dollar-a-year man.^[9] Progressive lawyer Max Lowenthal was a dollar-a-year man as legal counsel on various congressional committees, befriended U.S. Senator Harry S. Truman, and wound up as a dollar-a-year man in President Truman's cabinet.^{[citation needed]}

World War I

Bernard Baruch was the first businessman employed for a one-dollar salary.^[10] World War I, the Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense was staffed largely by dollar-a-year men, including Bernard Baruch, Robert S. Brookings, and Herbert Bayard Swope.^[11]

Interwar

Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller, wealthy in his own right, served in several government positions on such terms.^{[citation needed]}

New Deal and World War II

Kentucky's Ashland Oil and Refining Company founder and CEO, Paul G. Blazer (1890–1966), served twice as a government salaried dollar-a-year man: from 1933 to 1935 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration on the Code of Fair Competition for the Petroleum Industry^[12] as Chairman of the Blazer Committee^[13] and a second time during World War II as Chairman of District II Refining for President Roosevelt's Petroleum Administration of War.^[14]^[15] During World War II, socialite Doris Duke worked in a canteen for U.S. sailors in Egypt at such a salary.^[16]

In Canada during World War II, C. D. Howe, Canada's "Minister of Everything", created a rearmament program using "dollar-a-year men".^[17] An example was John Wilson McConnell, the owner and publisher of the Montreal Star, who was appointed Director of Licences for the Wartime Trade Board, a position for which he served for free.^[18] Others include E. P. Taylor and Austin Cotterell Taylor.^[19]

Recent examples

Some recent one-dollar salary earners worked in government as well, most notably former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,^[20] former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney,^[21] and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

After promising to take only a dollar a year in November 2016, former U.S. President Donald Trump donated the first three months of his salary to the National Park Service and stated plans to donate all of his salary during the term.^[22]^[23]^[24]^[25] Since then, President Trump donated his salary to various Federal Departments, fulfilling his campaign promise to do so.^[26]

In 2015, then 15-year-old Corbin Duncan petitioned the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to take up a $1 salary.^[27] The petition was unsuccessful but gained international media coverage.^[28]

Instances of alternative compensation

While many executives who take a one-dollar salary also choose not to take any other forms of compensation, a number earn millions more in bonuses and/or other forms of compensation. For example, in 2010–11 Oracle's founder and CEO Larry Ellison made only $1 in salary, but earned over $77 million in other forms of compensation.^[29]

In some cases, in lieu of a salary, the executives receive stock options.^[30]^[31] In the United States, this approach impacts personal tax liability, because although stock and option grants are taxed at federal income rates, they may be exempt from some portion of payroll taxes (typically 7.65%) used to fund Social Security and Medicare.^[32]

Executives argue that remuneration through stock instead of salary ties management performance to their financial benefits.^[30] The assumption is that stock prices will reflect the actual value of a company, which reflect the management performance of the company. Detractors argue that this incentive may drive short-term planning over long-term planning.^[33]

Notable one-dollar salary earners

The following people have been employed for annual salaries of one dollar:

Arnold Schwarzenegger (former Governor of California)^[34]
Darren Entwistle (TELUS)^[35]
David Filo (Yahoo!)^[36]
David Lloyd George (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom)
Donald Trump (former President of the United States)
Edward Lampert (Sears Holdings)^[36]
Elon Musk (Tesla Motors, SpaceX)^[37]
Eric Schmidt (Google)^[38]
Evan Spiegel (Snap)^[39]
F. Thomson Leighton (Akamai)^[40]
Henry Samueli (Broadcom Corporation)^[41]
Herbert Hoover (former President of the United States)^[42]
Jack Dorsey (Twitter)^[36]
Jan Koum (WhatsApp)^[43]
Jeremy Stoppelman (Yelp)^[36]
Jerry Yang (Yahoo!)^[44]
John F. Kennedy (former President of the United States)^[42]
John Mackey (Whole Foods Market)^[39]
Jon Corzine (former Governor of New Jersey)^[45]
Larry Ellison (Oracle Corporation)^[36]
Larry Page (Alphabet Inc.)^[38]
Lee Iacocca (Chrysler Corporation)^[30]^[46]
Mark Pincus (Zynga)^[47]
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)^[48]
Meg Whitman (Hewlett-Packard)^[49]
N. R. Narayana Murthy (Infosys)
Richard Fairbank (Capital One Financial)^[30]
Richard Hayne (Urban Outfitters)^[36]
Richard Riordan (Mayor of Los Angeles)^[50]
Robert Duggan (Pharmacyclics)^[51]
Sehat Sutardja (Marvell Technology Group)^[52]
Sergey Brin (Alphabet Inc.)^[38]
Steve Jobs (Apple)^[53]^[54]^[55]
Terry Semel (Yahoo!)^[30]
Vikram Pandit (Citigroup)^[56]
William Clay Ford Jr. (Ford Motor Company)^[30]
William Knudsen (Chairman of the Office of Production Management)^[57]

References

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^ National Archives Identifier: 7261744 HMS Entry Number: NC-79 28 Records Relating to the Blazer Committee Hearing, 1933 – 1936. Record Group 232: Records of the Petroleum Administrative Board, 1924 - 1936. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015.
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^ "Fuller Explains Refusal of Salary". The New York Times. September 20, 1926. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
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^ Nguyen, Tina (March 13, 2017). "Is Donald Trump Actually Donating His Presidential Salary?". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on June 26, 2017.
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^ "Brisbane teenager calls on Malcolm Turnbull to take $1 salary". ABC News. September 26, 2015. Archived from the original on September 10, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
^ Duncan, Corbin (October 2, 2015). "Why I want the Prime Minister to give up his $500,000 salary". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on February 19, 2018. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
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^ Mayerowitz, Scott (December 3, 2008). "The Other Side of the $1 Salary". ABC News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2009. Retrieved July 25, 2009.
^ Margolis, Steven M. "IRS Extends Indefinitely Stock Option FICA/FUTA Tax Withholding Moratorium". Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013.
^ Reich, Robert (January 9, 2001). The Future of Success. A. Knopf. p. 74. ISBN 0375411127.
^ "How common is Trump's $1 salary?". BBC News. November 14, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2018.
^ "TELUS Annual Report 2011 – CEO letter to investors". About.telus.com. December 31, 1999. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Gillet, Rachel (August 14, 2015). "13 top executives who make a $1 salary or less". Business Insider Inc. Archived from the original on August 16, 2015. Retrieved August 15, 2015.
^ Durisin, Megan (August 10, 2013). "Musk Gets $4.3 Million of Stock Options for Model X Work". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Google SEC Filing 2006". Sec.gov. Archived from the original on December 7, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
^ ^a ^b Wells, Nick (March 1, 2017). "The real story behind Snap CEO Evan Spiegel's $1-a-year salary". CNBC. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
^ Fox, Emily Jane. "15 top executives with $1 salaries". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
^ "Compensation for Henry Samueli, BROADCOM, Chairman of the Board of Directors (effective May 21, 2003)".^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b "How common is Trump's $1 salary?". BBC News. November 14, 2016. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved November 14, 2016.
^ "WhatsApp founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton own nearly $9 billion in Facebook stock". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on February 20, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
^ "10-Q Watch: Yahoo's Acquisitions; Yang Salary". paidContent.org. August 9, 2007. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
^ Chen, David W. (October 4, 2006). "The Goldman Sachs Crew That's Helping Run Trenton Government". p. 2. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2008.
^ "The Dollar-a-Year Man". Forbes. May 8, 2002. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 18, 2018.
^ Grubb, Jeffrey (April 5, 2013). "Zynga CEO volunteers to reduce his salary to $1". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on April 9, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.
^ "Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's base salary falls to $1". The Guardian. April 2, 2014. Archived from the original on April 2, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
^ "HP CEO Meg Whitman's salary: $1". CNN Money. Archived from the original on October 1, 2011.
^ "How does a dollar a year salary work?". KPCC. Southern California Public Radio. January 6, 2012. Archived from the original on February 2, 2014.
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^ "Marvell Tech's CEO, Acting COO Take Salary Cut, Each To Be Paid $1". MarketWatch. January 16, 2008.
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^ "Apple's 2009 Proxy". Investor.apple.com. January 7, 2009. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
^ "Apple's 2007 Proxy". Investor.apple.com. April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2013.
^ Dash, Eric (September 24, 2010). "Citigroup's Pandit Takes $1 in Compensation for 2010". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
^ Baime, Albert (2014). The Arsenal of Democracy. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-547-71928-3.

@@ Line 41: / Line 41: @@
 {{cite news |url = https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/trump-presidential-salary/507965/ |title = The Dollar-a-Year Man |work = The Atlantic |first = Adam |last = Chandler |date = November 16, 2016 |access-date = March 18, 2018 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180319085006/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/trump-presidential-salary/507965/ |archive-date = March 19, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37977433 |title = How common is Trump's $1 salary? |date = November 14, 2016 |publisher = BBC |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161115113433/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37977433 |archive-date = November 15, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/donald-trump-salary-donation |title = Is Donald Trump Actually Donating His Presidential Salary? |work = [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] |first = Tina |last = Nguyen |date = March 13, 2017 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170626153245/http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/donald-trump-salary-donation |archive-date = June 26, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1341/take-no-salary/ |title = Trump-O-Meter: Take no salary |work = PolitiFact |access-date = September 16, 2018 }}</ref> Since then, President Trump donated his salary to various Federal Departments, fulfilling his campaign promise to do so.<ref>{{cite web |title = Trump-O-Meter |work = PolitiFact |url = https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/trumpometer/promise/1341/take-no-salary/ }}</ref>
-In 2015, then 15-year-old Corbin Duncan petitioned the Australian Prime Minister to take up a $1 salary.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-26/brisbane-teenager-calls-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-take-$1-salary/6806968 |title = Brisbane teenager calls on Malcolm Turnbull to take $1 salary |date = September 26, 2015 |work = ABC News |access-date = February 19, 2018 |language = en-AU |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160910122149/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-26/brisbane-teenager-calls-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-take-$1-salary/6806968 |archive-date = September 10, 2016 }}</ref> The petition was unsuccessful but gained international media coverage.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-i-want-the-prime-minister-to-give-up-his-500000-salary-20151001-gjz3dy.html |title = Why I want the Prime Minister to give up his $500,000 salary |last = Duncan |first = Corbin |date = October 2, 2015 |work = The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date = February 19, 2018 |language = en-US |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180219151632/http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-i-want-the-prime-minister-to-give-up-his-500000-salary-20151001-gjz3dy.html |archive-date = February 19, 2018 }}</ref>
+In 2015, then 15-year-old Corbin Duncan petitioned the Australian Prime Minister, [[Malcolm Turnbull]], to take up a $1 salary.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-26/brisbane-teenager-calls-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-take-$1-salary/6806968 |title = Brisbane teenager calls on Malcolm Turnbull to take $1 salary |date = September 26, 2015 |work = ABC News |access-date = February 19, 2018 |language = en-AU |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160910122149/http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-26/brisbane-teenager-calls-on-malcolm-turnbull-to-take-$1-salary/6806968 |archive-date = September 10, 2016 }}</ref> The petition was unsuccessful but gained international media coverage.<ref>{{Cite news |url = http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-i-want-the-prime-minister-to-give-up-his-500000-salary-20151001-gjz3dy.html |title = Why I want the Prime Minister to give up his $500,000 salary |last = Duncan |first = Corbin |date = October 2, 2015 |work = The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date = February 19, 2018 |language = en-US |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180219151632/http://www.smh.com.au/comment/why-i-want-the-prime-minister-to-give-up-his-500000-salary-20151001-gjz3dy.html |archive-date = February 19, 2018 }}</ref>
 ==Instances of alternative compensation==