Top-earning CEO compensations have been under the scrutiny of the public ever since they were revealed, stunning people. The top 5 highest-paid CEOs of 2023 don’t draw hefty salaries as they are tax-inefficient and rather grease the wheels of stock awards and other incentives for the entirety of the compensation. Often rewarded for their crucial contributions to the success of the company, the top-earning chief executive officers in the US are a diverse group dedicated to a stringent regime of expansion and growth.
Since being seated in the powerful position of a CEO is a prestige, even their roles and responsibilities swell at triple the size of an average employee. But, the ratio of the average CEO compensation to the median employee has been rising every year. In contrast to 2021’s 254:1, 2022’s CEO pay ratio drifted to 288:1. This has certainly earned the irksome ire of employees who have been vociferous in their criticism of CEO compensations rising at a much higher rate than their own pay.
2023’s Highest-Paid CEOs Of The United States
We have curated a list of the top 5 highest-earning CEOs of 2023. The compensation figures represented in this listicle feature total disclosed CEO compensation, including salary, stock awards, and other benefits.
1. Elon Musk
CEO Compensation in the US: $2400 million
Companies: SpaceX Corp, Tesla Motors, The Boring Company, Twitter Inc
Sparring with Bernard Arnault for being ordained the richest man in the world, Elon Musk’s journey from X.com and PayPal to SpaceX, Tesla, and the ever-up-for-debate controversial Twitter has skyrocketed his CEO compensation. He bags the tag of the highest-paid CEO of 2023.
Musk’s net worth of $190 billion, surmounts from being the largest shareholder of PayPal. According to Forbes, Musk’s ownership stake in Tesla is 15 percent ($99.3 billion) and other private assets include SpaceX’s $46.9 billion and The Boring Company’s $3.33 billion.
2. Sundar Pichai
CEO Compensation in the US: $225 million
Companies: Alphabet Inc
The pay package of Alphabet Inc CEO Sundar Pichai awarded him a ranking in the top-earning CEOs of 2023. While his annual salary has been steadfast at $2 million since 2020, the CEO compensation package includes personal security worth $6 million.
Analogous to his 2019 pay package, Pichai’s compensation was boosted through a triennial stock grant worth $218 million. Other principal executives of Google’s parent company earned between $22 million to $35 million in annual stock awards. Amidst industry-wide raging tech layoffs, Sundar Pichai’s CEO pay rise was one of the controversies beseeching employees.
3. Barry McCarthy
CEO Compensation in the US: $168.65 million
Companies: Peloton Interactive Inc
Barry McCarthy has experienced a short run as the CEO of Peloton Interactive – being appointed in February 2022. While he directly owns a minimal percent of the company’s shares which are worth $2.22K, his annual CEO compensation parades at $168 million.
This consists of a salary worth 0.2 percent and 99.8 percent of company stock awards and options, making McCarthy one of the top-earning chief executive officers in the US.
4. Tim Cook
CEO Compensation in the US: $99.4 million
Companies: Apple Inc
Like Steve Jobs, Tim Cook’s name has been associated with the tech giant Apple for the past two decades. Cook has been a visionary in leading Apple to the pinnacle of unattainable success. No wonder he makes the list of the highest-paid CEOs of 2023.
Cook’s CEO compensation included $3 million in base salary and $83 million in stock awards, which was higher than his 2021 pay package of $98.7 million. But after facing horrific backlash at the posterior of the CEO pay rise controversy, Cook has targeted a compensation cut to $49 million at the end of this year.
5. Peter Zaffino
CEO Compensation in the US: $75.3 million
Companies: American International Group
Peter Zaffino is #5 of the top-earning CEOs of 2023. Of the $75.3 million that AIG’s Peter Zaffino earned in CEO compensation in 2023, $1.5 million is owed in salary while $7.8 million was a bonus. The other $3.2 million was awarded in stock options and $62.6 million came from other stock compensations.
