Media coverage, board structure and CEO compensation: Evidence from Taiwan

•Providing international evidence using data in Taiwan.•First study to examine the impact of media coverage on CEO compensation.•New evidence on the linkage between institutional ownership and CEO compensation.•Suggesting media coverage could be viable corporate governance instrument. This paper investigates the relationship between CEO cash compensation and media coverage of firms, analyst forecasts and board structure using data from the Taiwan Stock Exchange. We find that, other things being equal, CEO cash compensation is much higher for firms with greater media coverage, firms with more positive news, firms with more analyst forecasts, and firms with larger institutional holdings. There is little evidence that board size and board independence affect CEO cash compensation, and CEO duality is negatively associated with CEO cash compensation