CEO bonus payments have gotten staggering — see who has taken home the most since 2018
Published: 12:55 06 Oct 2023 EDT
CEOs receiving astonishingly high bonuses is nothing new, but a new analysis has uncovered which executives have taken home the biggest payments over the last five years.
A study from The Stock Dork looked at bonus payments to CEOs of the top 50 market cap companies since 2018.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk received the largest CEO bonus payment ever when he got $2.23 billion in stock options. That helped him achieve the highest average bonus over the five-year span of $$456.7 million.
If Musk were to be awarded a $2.23 billion bonus today, it would be equivalent to receiving $67,011 for every $1 earned by his median-paid employees, the study found.
Behind Musk is Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai, who has taken home an average yearly bonus of $98.9 million. Last year, he received $10 million as a cash bonus and $42.2 million in stock, which equated to $275 in bonus payments to Pichai for every $1 earned by the median Alphabet employee.
In third is Andy Jassy of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), clocking in at an average bonus of $53.4 billion. His largest bonus was in 2021, when he got $211 million in stock — $6,198 for every $1 the median Amazon worker made.
Rounding out the top five are Safra Catz of Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), with an average of $50.8 million ($1,723 for every $1 a median worker earns) and Tim Cook of Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) at $43.9 million ($982 for every $1).
“It's intriguing to observe the compensation models of renowned CEOs,’ said Adam Garcia, Founder of The Stock Dork. “For instance, in 2022, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta Platforms chose a symbolic $1 salary and forwent any bonus. However, he received $27 million in other compensation-like awards, covering 401(k) investments and security costs.”
“Many top executives increasingly favor stocks, options, and performance-related rewards. This shift in strategy aligns CEOs' incentives with their companies' growth and is well-received by board members.”
The rest of the top ten includes Satya Nadella of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Patrick Gelsinger of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) and James Gorman of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). The full top 50 can be found here.
For the study, The Stock Dork used data from the companies' most recent financial statements, SEC filings, and public annual reports. Market cap data used is as of September 7.
https://www.thestockdork.com/ceos-with-the-most-jaw-dropping-bonus-payments/
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel
