Longtime Netflix chief legal officer David Hyman raked in more than $8.1 million in total compensation last year, a hefty bump from his prior year's pay.

Hyman received a $1 million raise last year that lifted his base salary to $3.5 million. He also took home more than $4.6 million in stock option awards, according to Netflix's latest proxy statement.

Hyman's total compensation for 2019 represents nearly a 24% increase over his 2018 pay, when he earned about $6.4 million. In 2017, when his base salary was $1.7 million, he received $5.1 million in total compensation. 

Netflix stated in its proxy filing that Hyman received a raise for 2019 based on "his performance in managing and developing a global legal and public policy function." 

Hyman has served as Netflix's top lawyer since 2002. He also serves as the secretary for the Silicon Valley-based media and tech giant. Attempts to speak with him or a Netflix representative were not immediately successful. 

Before Hyman joined Netflix, he served for three years as general counsel at Webvan, a dot-com bubble era online grocery delivery business that went bankrupt in 2001. Earlier in his career, Hyman worked as an associate at Arent Fox, Kintner Plotkin & Kahn and Morrison & Foerster.

While Hyman's pay is sizable, it pales in comparison to the total 2019 compensation for Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and chief content officer Ted Sarandos—they made $38.5 million and $34.6 million, respectively.

Hastings' pay, which included more than $37.4 million in stock awards, increased by about $2 million over the prior year. Sarandos' base salary moved up from $12 million to $18 million for 2019. He also received $16.5 million in stock awards. 

Netflix announced in a 2017 SEC filing that it was increasing executive base pay in response to a tax reform bill that Congress passed that same year. The new law eliminated a tax loophole by prohibiting companies from deducting more than $1 million in performance-based bonus payments to executives. 

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