Vista Gold Management
Management criteria checks 3/4
Vista Gold's CEO is Fred Earnest, appointed in Aug 2007, has a tenure of 18.42 years. total yearly compensation is $582.01K, comprised of 61.6% salary and 38.4% bonuses, including company stock and options. directly owns 1.7% of the company’s shares, worth $4.30M. The average tenure of the management team and the board of directors is 6.8 years and 12.5 years respectively.
Key information
Fred Earnest
Chief executive officer
US$582.0k
Total compensation
| CEO salary percentage | 61.57% |
| CEO tenure | 18.4yrs |
| CEO ownership | 1.7% |
| Management average tenure | 6.8yrs |
| Board average tenure | 12.5yrs |
Recent management updates
Recent updates
CEO Compensation Analysis
| Date | Total Compensation | Salary | Company Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30 2025 | n/a | n/a | -US$7m |
| Jun 30 2025 | n/a | n/a | -US$8m |
| Mar 31 2025 | n/a | n/a | US$10m |
| Dec 31 2024 | US$582k | US$358k | US$11m |
| Sep 30 2024 | n/a | n/a | US$11m |
| Jun 30 2024 | n/a | n/a | US$11m |
| Mar 31 2024 | n/a | n/a | -US$6m |
| Dec 31 2023 | US$566k | US$350k | -US$7m |
| Sep 30 2023 | n/a | n/a | -US$6m |
| Jun 30 2023 | n/a | n/a | -US$7m |
| Mar 31 2023 | n/a | n/a | -US$7m |
| Dec 31 2022 | US$506k | US$350k | -US$5m |
| Sep 30 2022 | n/a | n/a | -US$12m |
| Jun 30 2022 | n/a | n/a | -US$13m |
| Mar 31 2022 | n/a | n/a | -US$12m |
| Dec 31 2021 | US$672k | US$346k | -US$15m |
| Sep 30 2021 | n/a | n/a | -US$9m |
| Jun 30 2021 | n/a | n/a | -US$2m |
| Mar 31 2021 | n/a | n/a | US$821k |
| Dec 31 2020 | US$529k | US$325k | US$420k |
| Sep 30 2020 | n/a | n/a | US$1m |
| Jun 30 2020 | n/a | n/a | -US$5m |
| Mar 31 2020 | n/a | n/a | -US$10m |
| Dec 31 2019 | US$564k | US$325k | -US$9m |
Compensation vs Market: Fred's total compensation ($USD582.01K) is below average for companies of similar size in the US market ($USD1.44M).
Compensation vs Earnings: Fred's compensation has increased whilst the company is unprofitable.
CEO
Fred Earnest (63 yo)
Mr. Frederick H. Earnest, also known as Fred, B.Sc. has been the Chief Executive Officer of Vista Gold Corp. since January 1, 2012. Mr. Earnest is the President at Vista Gold Corp. since August 1, 2007. Mr...
Leadership Team
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | 18.4yrs | US$582.01k | 1.7% $ 4.3m | |
| Chief Financial Officer | 6.5yrs | US$403.71k | 0.34% $ 866.7k | |
| Vice President of Investor Relations | 6.8yrs | US$249.91k | 0.22% $ 543.9k |
Experienced Management: VGZ's management team is seasoned and experienced (6.8 years average tenure).
Board Members
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | 18.2yrs | US$582.01k | 1.7% $ 4.3m | |
| Independent Director | 24.7yrs | US$80.88k | 0.15% $ 378.1k | |
| Independent Director | 1.9yrs | US$102.19k | 0% $ 0 | |
| Independent Director | 6.8yrs | US$79.88k | 0% $ 0 | |
| Independent Non-Executive Chairman | 18.2yrs | US$96.88k | 0.36% $ 906.4k | |
| Independent Director | 1.8yrs | US$111.25k | 0% $ 0 |
Experienced Board: VGZ's board of directors are seasoned and experienced ( 12.5 years average tenure).
Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2026/01/06 03:20 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2026/01/06 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2025/09/30 |
| Annual Earnings | 2024/12/31 |
Data Sources
The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.
| Package | Data | Timeframe | Example US Source * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Financials | 10 years |
| |
| Analyst Consensus Estimates | +3 years |
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| Market Prices | 30 years |
| |
| Ownership | 10 years |
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| Management | 10 years |
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| Key Developments | 10 years |
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* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.
Analysis Model and Snowflake
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Industry and Sector Metrics
Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.
Analyst Sources
Vista Gold Corp. is covered by 5 analysts. 1 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.
| Analyst | Institution |
|---|---|
| Heiko Ihle | H.C. Wainwright & Co. |
| Matthew Farwell | Roth Capital Partners |
| Jeffrey Wright | Seaport Research Partners |