The Idiot Index

Applied to wireless, broadband, and integrated communications carriers. COGS captures network cost of services; OpEx is dominated by SG&A and depreciation on enormous capital plants. Markup ratios understate the picture because the capital base isn't in COGS — Operational Markup is the more honest gross indicator. Shareholder Extraction is structurally high in this sector because mature carriers run large dividends.

Required disclosure under Dodd-Frank Section 953(b) since 2018. Filed in DEF 14A proxy statements. The dashboard aggregates the disclosure across the top 50 and ranks.

Source data: CEO total compensation and median employee compensation, both as filed in the company's most recent DEF 14A. When the ratio is XBRL-tagged we use the tagged value; otherwise the narrative disclosure is parsed (~99% accuracy).