a large majority of the Carls Jr locations are franchise - the pay of the CEO of McDonalds or Carls Jr is not really connected. A far larger problem is the mar

a large majority of the Carls Jr locations are franchise - the pay of the CEO of McDonalds or Carls Jr is not really connected. A far larger problem is the market focus on short term performance and a changing regulatory environment (post enron) that criminalizes mistakes - for the last 30 years (since the corporate raider era in the 80's) CEO tenure has been shrinking, and overall risk has (to the CEO) been rising - because of that rising risk (of being sued, fired (for not meeting unrealistic market performance), or even going to jail) - their pay has gone up considerably. I'm not saying any of this is good or right - it just is.