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- TPG's JonWinkelried tops a list of highly paid CEOs. His comp was valued at $198.7 million in 2023.
- Most top CEOs' earnings come through stock awards, often payable over several years.
- The median pay package for CEOs was $23.7 million in 2023, an 11.4% increase from the prior year.
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No surprise: It pays to climb your way to the top of the org chart.
The highest-paid CEOs in the US aren't necessarily household names, but they're enjoying some pretty sweet pay packages — more than enough to avoid worries about higher prices for that morning coffee.
Take Jon Winkelried, head of the private equity firm TPG Inc. The value of his pay package was $198.7 million in 2023. Winkelried topped a list of the 100 highest-paid chiefs from Equilar, which analyzes data on executive compensation.
But though many compensation numbers are big, it's not all cash. Amit Batish, senior director of content and communications at Equilar, told Business Insider that much of the top dogs' hauls come through stock awards.
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"That's kind of the bread and butter of executive compensation these days," he said.
To get the payouts, CEOs often have to achieve targets such as stock price thresholds.
Regardless of how they get it, it's been a good year to be the boss. The median pay for heads of S&P 500 companies rose 12.4% to $15.5 million in 2023, according to ISS-Corporate, which provides data and analytics to global corporations.
And the median compensation package for CEOs on Equilar's list — comprised of companies with revenue of $1 billion or more — was valued at a cool $29.1 million in 2023, a jump of 20.1% from the prior year.
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According to its data, that made the ratio of CEO pay to that of the median employee 312 to 1.
There are still some high-wattage chiefs a bit farther down the list, like Apple's Tim Cook, who comes in at No. 11 with compensation valued at $63.2 million, or Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, at No. 16 with total comp valued at $48.5 million. They haven't yet made it to the very top yet, according to Equilar.
And then there is the head-spinning and controversial pay of Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO's all-stock 10-year compensation package —which is linked to financial targets and which shareholders recently approved, though it won't be immediately reinstated —is worth some $55 billion based on the company's recent share price.
Here are the top ten other highest-paid, plus highest-profile, CEOs.
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1. Jon Winkelried, TPG
Winkelried's compensation package was valued at $198.7 million, an increase of 483%. The CEO-to-worker package for the private equity firm was 683 to 1.
The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $2.39 billion.
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2. Harvey Schwartz, Carlyle Group
Schwartz's compensation package was valued at $187 million. The CEO-to-worker package for the private equity firm was 813 to 1.
The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $2.96 billion.
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3: Hock Tan, Broadcom
The value of Tan's total compensation jumped to $161.8 million in 2023, a 167% increase over the prior year, according to Equilar. The pay ratio — how much more he takes home than the average employee of the chip and software maker —was 510 to 1.
The company had $35.8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023.
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4: Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto Networks
The value of Arora's total compensation as CEO of the cybersecurity company came to $151.4 million, a surge of 1,355%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 735 to 1.
Revenue reached $6.89 billion in fiscal 2023.
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5: Sue Nabi, Coty
Nabi runs the beauty company Coty. The value of her compensation package was $149.4 million, an increase of 4,100%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 3,769 to 1.
Revenue came to $5.55 billion in fiscal 2023.
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6: Christopher Winfrey, Charter Communications
Winfrey, who took the top spot at the cable company in December 2022, landed total compensation valued at $89.1 million. The boss-to-worker pay ratio was 1,635 to 1, according to Equilar.
In fiscal 2023, revenue came to $54.6 billion.
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7. Ariel Emanuel, Endeavor Group Holdings
Emanuel's compensation package was valued at $83.9 million, an increase of 340%. The entertainment and media giant's CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 1,184 to 1.
The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $5.96 billion.
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8. Adam Foroughi, AppLovin
Foroughi's compensation package was valued at $83.4 million, an increase of 79,783%. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio for the mobile technology company was 795 to 1.
The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $3.28 billion.
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9. David Risher, Lyft
Risher's compensation package was valued at $78.2 million, and the rideshare company's CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 519 to 1.
The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $4.4 billion.
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10: Will Lansing, FICO
Lansing runs Fair Isaac Corp., which developed FICO, the most broadly used model for scoring credit. The value of his total compensation came to $66.3 million, an increase of 251%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 653 to 1.
The company's revenue totaled $1.5 billion in fiscal 2023.
A FICO spokesperson, through a statement to BI, said, in part: "Under Mr. Lansing's leadership the past 10 years, FICO has delivered total shareholder return that is in the top 1% of the S&P 500. Meanwhile, his base salary for 2023 was $750,000, well below industry peers and in the bottom quartile of S&P 500 CEOs."
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11: Tim Cook, Apple
Cook's total compensation for running the tech giant was valued at $63.2 million, a drop of 36%, according to Equilar. The pay ratio was 672 to 1.
The company's revenue totaled $383.3 billion in fiscal 2023.
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16: Satya Nadella, Microsoft
Nadella's total comp was valued at $48.5 million, a drop of 12%. The chief-to-worker ratio was 250 to 1.
The software giant's revenue was $211.9 billion in fiscal 2023.
An earlier version of this story appeared on May 3, 2024.
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