Top 10 highest paid CEOs in America
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Average compensation for CEOs at S&P 500 companies soared to a record $15.7 million in 2023 as a strong stock market drove up executive compensation.
Some of the highest-paid CEOs in America have nine-figure compensation packages, with the majority of CEO compensation tied to stock-based awards. Overall, the average executive in the index makes 196 times what the median S&P 500 employee makes, up from 185 times in 2022.
This chart shows the top 10 highest-paid CEOs of S&P 500 companies, based on analysis by The Wall Street Journal and MyLogIQ.
Highest-paid S&P 500 CEOs in 2023
These are the S&P 500 CEOs who received the highest compensation packages last year:
Rank CEO Company Total Pay Cash Pay Sector 1 Hock Tan Broadcom $161.8 million $1.2 million Technology 2 Nikesh Arora Palo Alto Networks $151.4 million $2.3 million Technology 3 Stephen Schwarzman Blackstone $119.8 million $0.4 million Finance
Services 4Christopher WinfreyCharter
Communications $89.1 million $5.2 million Communications
Services 5 Will LansingFair Isaac$66.4M$2.0MTechnology 6 Tim CookApple$63.2M$13.7MTechnology 7 Hamid MoghaddamPrologis$50.9M$1.9MReal Estate 8 Theodore SarandosNetflix$49.8M$19.5MCommunications
Service 9David ZaslavWarner Bros.
Discovery$49.7M$25.0MCommunication
Services 10Glenn FogelBooking Holdings$46.7M$5.8MConsumer Circulation
The total payment includes stock-based compensation and cash payments.
Hock Tan, CEO of semiconductor maker Broadcom, topped the list with 2023 annual compensation of $161.8 million.
Like Nvidia, the company is benefiting from surging demand for AI technology. Broadcom supplies networking chips used in data centers for major tech companies including Microsoft. Tan's salary will double from 2022 to 2023, meaning he will make 510 times the average employee's salary.
Coming in third is Stephen Schwarzman, who runs the world's largest private equity firm, Blackstone, whose $119.8 million compensation package was boosted by an 83% increase in the company's stock price last year. Blackstone is the world's largest owner of commercial real estate, with roughly 12,500 real estate assets in total.
Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook will receive $63.2 million in 2023, down from $99.4 million the previous year. The unusual pay cut was the result of a shareholder backlash and at Cook's own request.
Overall, four of the top 10 highest-paid CEOs in America are from the technology sector, and all of them are expected to see double-digit stock price gains in 2023.
CEO compensation has doubled in the past decade
Below we show the percentage increase in executive compensation since 2013.
Average annual total compensation
For S&P 500 CEOs 2023$15.7M 2022$14.5M 2021$14.8M 2020$13.2M 2019$12.2M 2018$11.7M 2017$10.6M 2016$10.0M 2015$9.9M 2014$9.0M 2013$7.4M
The total payment includes stock-based compensation and cash payments.
As you can see, the median total compensation of S&P 500 CEOs increased by more than 8% between 2022 and 2023.
Moreover, this figure has doubled over the past decade as the U.S. stock market soared during an era of low interest rates. Overall, CEO pay has risen at a faster pace than median employee pay, and this gap between CEOs and employees has continued to widen over the years. For reference, the median salary of an S&P 500 employee was $81,476 in 2023.
CEO compensation is often tied to the company's financial performance, measured by stock price movements or dividend payments, and CEO compensation growth can also be heavily influenced by stock-based compensation granted to the CEO.
According to a separate analysis by Equilar, on average 70% of S&P 500 CEO compensation comes from stock-based compensation, averaging a staggering $9.4 million by 2023.