Peter MokoenaChief executive officers (CEOs) are among the most powerful people in global business. They lead giant corporations worth billions — and in return, many receive astonishing compensation packages that include salaries, stock awards, bonuses, and performance incentives. In recent years, CEO pay has exploded, especially in industries tied to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, finance, semiconductors, and technology. According to compensation tracking firms and SEC filings, many top executives now earn tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Below is a look at 50 of the highest-paid CEOs in the world in the current year.
Top 50 Highest Paid CEOs In The World (Current Year)
1. Elon Musk
Company: Tesla, SpaceX, X
Earnings: Performance-based package with no guaranteed payout. SpaceX approved 200 million super-voting restricted shares if valuation reaches $7.5 trillion and a Mars colony is established. He has received a nominal salary of $54,080 per year from SpaceX since 2019. His net worth is estimated at over $700 billion primarily through stock ownership, not annual cash compensation.
Musk is unique among CEOs because he does not take a traditional salary; instead, his wealth accumulates through equity grants that only pay out if he achieves extraordinarily ambitious milestones. This structure has made him the richest person in history, but it also means his annual reported compensation can fluctuate wildly depending on stock prices and whether performance targets are met. His compensation is set by special shareholder votes, which have been challenged in Delaware courts, adding legal uncertainty to his pay.
2. Patrick Rick Smith
Company: Axon Enterprise
Earnings: Smith earned over $160 million in a single year primarily through equity incentives tied to aggressive performance targets as co-founder and long-serving CEO of Axon, formerly known as TASER International. Smith built Axon from a stun-gun manufacturer into a comprehensive public safety technology company that now dominates the market for body cameras, digital evidence management, and real-time crime center software.
His compensation reflects Axon’s transition from hardware sales to recurring cloud subscriptions, which has dramatically increased the company’s valuation and profitability. Smith’s pay package is structured to reward long-term shareholder returns, with most of his equity vesting over several years only if Axon continues to grow revenue and operating margins. Under his leadership, Axon became the standard for police technology across thousands of US departments and international agencies.
3. John Winkelried
Company: TPG
Earnings: As co-CEO, Winkelried’s compensation is derived from TPG’s performance, with the firm reporting after-tax distributable earnings of $282 million in the first quarter of the current year. Specific annual compensation figures for the current year are not publicly detailed, but private equity executives typically earn the bulk of their income through carried interest rather than salary. Winkelried joined TPG in 2006 and helped build the firm’s credit and real estate platforms before being named co-CEO.
Unlike public company CEOs who receive stock grants, his compensation is directly tied to the profits generated when TPG sells its portfolio companies or real estate assets. This means his earnings can vary from tens of millions to zero in any given year, depending entirely on exit markets. Winkelried’s pay also includes management fees from TPG’s funds, which are more stable but still tied to total assets under management.
4. Harvey Schwartz
Company: The Carlyle Group
Earnings: Total yearly compensation is $29.59 million, comprised of 3.4% salary ($1.00 million) and 96.6% bonuses, including company stock and options, according to proxy statements for the most recent fiscal year. Schwartz, a former Goldman Sachs president, was recruited to Carlyle specifically to professionalize the private equity giant after its founders stepped back. His compensation package is heavily weighted toward equity that vests only if Carlyle’s stock price outperforms competitors like Blackstone and KKR. Schwartz also receives carried interest on Carlyle’s funds, which gives him a percentage of the profits when the firm sells companies or real estate at a premium.
Under his leadership, Carlyle has expanded its credit and insurance businesses to reduce reliance on traditional buyouts. Schwartz’s pay reflects the premium paid for Wall Street executives who can manage public company investor relations while also running a complex alternative asset manager.
5. Satya Nadella
Company: Microsoft
Earnings: Microsoft shareholders approved CEO Satya Nadella’s compensation of $96.5 million for the most recent fiscal year, up from $79.1 million the previous year. Nadella transformed Microsoft from a legacy software company known for Windows and Office into a cloud computing and artificial intelligence powerhouse that competes directly with Amazon and Google. His compensation is almost entirely performance-based, with the vast majority coming in the form of stock awards that vest over multiple years.
These awards are tied to Microsoft’s total shareholder return relative to the S&P 500, as well as specific targets for Azure cloud revenue growth. Nadella’s leadership also included a strategic partnership with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, which has positioned Microsoft as the leader in enterprise AI. His pay is approved by shareholders in an advisory vote, which has seen increasing support as Microsoft’s market capitalization surpassed $3 trillion.
6. Tim Cook
Company: Apple
Earnings: Cook’s pay package for the most recent fiscal year came in at roughly $74 million, in line with the year prior, according to Apple’s announcement to shareholders. Cook has been CEO since 2011, taking over from Steve Jobs, and has grown Apple into the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization. His compensation includes a base salary of $3 million, an annual cash bonus tied to Apple’s financial performance, and multi-year restricted stock units that vest over time.
The performance-based portion of his equity requires Apple to meet targets for revenue and operating income compared to other Dow Jones companies. Cook also receives personal security and private jet expenses, which are disclosed as part of his total compensation. Under his leadership, Apple launched the Apple Watch, AirPods, and the transition to Apple Silicon chips, reducing reliance on Intel. Cook’s pay is significantly lower than many tech founders because he is a professional manager, not a controlling shareholder.
7. H. Lawrence Culp Jr.
Company: GE Aerospace
Earnings: Under his employment agreement effective July 1 of the previous year, Culp receives an annual base salary of $2,000,000 with a target bonus opportunity of 200% of base salary ($4,000,000), plus long-term incentive awards. Culp was brought in to rescue General Electric from near-bankruptcy and succeeded beyond expectations, splitting the troubled conglomerate into three separate public companies: GE Aerospace, GE Vernova (energy), and GE HealthCare.
His compensation surged after shareholders approved a special equity grant tied to the successful execution of this breakup and the resulting share price appreciation. Culp is a former Danaher executive known for the “Danaher Business System,” a lean manufacturing and continuous improvement methodology. His pay reflects the immense difficulty of turning around a century-old industrial icon that had lost billions of dollars and was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Under his leadership, GE Aerospace became a pure-play aviation company focused on jet engines and aftermarket services.
8. Stephen Schwarzman
Company: Blackstone
Earnings: As Chairman and CEO, Schwarzman’s compensation is derived from Blackstone’s performance. The firm reported first-quarter Fee Related Earnings of $1.5 billion and Distributable Earnings of $1.8 billion in the current year. His personal earnings are tied to his ownership stake and carried interest, meaning he takes a percentage of the profits whenever Blackstone successfully sells a portfolio company or real estate asset. Schwarzman co-founded Blackstone in 1985, transforming it from a single-room operation into the world’s largest alternative asset manager with over $1 trillion in assets.
He famously took a salary of $1 per year during the 2008 financial crisis to show solidarity with investors. His compensation is controversial because carried interest is taxed at a lower capital gains rate rather than as ordinary income, a loophole that successive US presidents have tried but failed to close. Schwarzman’s annual income can reach billions in years when Blackstone has many successful exits.
9. Joseph Bae
Company: KKR & Co.
Earnings: Total compensation for the most recent fiscal year was $49,959,449, comprising $300,000 base salary, $13,000,000 bonus, and $36,659,449 in other compensation including carried interest distributions and stock awards. Bae was named co-CEO of KKR alongside Scott Nuttall after the firm’s legendary founders, Henry Kravis and George Roberts, stepped back from day-to-day leadership. He joined KKR in 1996 and helped build the firm’s Asian private equity business before being promoted.
His compensation is directly tied to KKR’s fund performance, with carried interest distributions flowing when the firm exits investments in portfolio companies. Bae also receives management fees as a percentage of KKR’s total assets under management, which have grown significantly as the firm expanded into credit, infrastructure, and real estate. Under his leadership, KKR has made major acquisitions including the $15 billion purchase of a stake in Coty’s professional beauty business and the acquisition of a significant portion of VMware from Dell.
10. Scott Nuttall
Company: KKR & Co.
Earnings: Total compensation for the most recent fiscal year was $80.36 million, according to Fidelity data on executive compensation for KKR & Co. Nuttall shares the co-CEO role with Joseph Bae and has been with KKR since 1996, previously leading the firm’s global capital markets and principal finance businesses. His higher compensation compared to Bae reflects his oversight of KKR’s most profitable units, including its credit and insurance platforms. Nuttall’s carried interest distributions are tied to the performance of KKR’s private equity funds, which have delivered industry-leading returns for decades.
He also receives stock grants that vest based on KKR’s share price appreciation and total shareholder return. Under Nuttall’s leadership, KKR has diversified away from traditional buyouts into permanent capital vehicles like KKR Capital Markets and global wealth management. His pay is structured to align his personal wealth with the long-term success of KKR’s investors, with most of his equity requiring multi-year holding periods.
11. Ted Sarandos
Company: Netflix
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available, as Netflix files its proxy statement in the spring. Sarandos’s compensation typically includes a base salary of $20 million, annual bonuses tied to subscriber growth, and stock options that vest over several years. As co-CEO, Sarandos is responsible for Netflix’s multibillion-dollar content budget, including negotiating deals with creators like Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy, and the creators of Stranger Things.
He joined Netflix in 2000 as a communications executive and was instrumental in the company’s pivot from DVD-by-mail to streaming. Under his leadership, Netflix has won hundreds of Emmy and Oscar awards and has become the world’s dominant streaming service with over 260 million subscribers. Sarandos also oversees Netflix’s expansion into live events, including NFL games on Christmas Day, comedy specials, and wrestling. His compensation reflects the intense competition in streaming from Disney, Apple, Amazon, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
12. Greg Peters
Company: Netflix
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Peters was promoted to co-CEO of Netflix alongside Ted Sarandos in 2023 after serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer. His compensation is heavily tied to Netflix’s revenue growth, operating margin expansion, and successful efforts to convert password-sharing households into paying subscribers.
Peters previously led the development of Netflix’s streaming interface, recommendation algorithms, and the company’s expansion into mobile gaming. He also oversaw Netflix’s global infrastructure, including the Open Connect content delivery network that ensures fast streaming worldwide. Under his leadership, Netflix launched its ad-supported tier, which has attracted millions of price-sensitive subscribers. Peters’s compensation includes significant stock options that only have value if Netflix’s share price continues to rise, motivating him to focus on long-term strategic decisions. His pay is lower than Sarandos’s because of their respective tenures and responsibilities.
13. Sundar Pichai
Company: Alphabet
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Pichai’s pay is largely composed of stock grants that vest over multiple years and are tied to Alphabet’s total shareholder return relative to the S&P 500. He oversees a vast portfolio including Google Search, YouTube, Android, Google Cloud, and the company’s artificial intelligence initiatives like the Gemini model. Pichai joined Google in 2004 as a product manager and led the development of the Chrome browser and Chrome OS before being named CEO.
His compensation is controversial because Alphabet has faced repeated shareholder lawsuits alleging that his pay packages are excessive relative to performance. In one notable year, Pichai received $280 million in stock awards, the largest ever granted to any public company executive at that time. Under his leadership, Alphabet has faced intense regulatory scrutiny from the US Department of Justice and European Union, including antitrust lawsuits over Google’s dominance in search and digital advertising.
14. Mark Zuckerberg
Company: Meta Platforms
Earnings: Zuckerberg typically takes a symbolic salary of $1 per year, earning almost exclusively through his ownership of Meta stock. His annual “compensation” is best measured by stock appreciation and security costs, which have included over $10 million per year for personal security and private jet travel. As controlling shareholder through supervoting shares, Zuckerberg does not face the same shareholder oversight as other CEOs, and his compensation is rarely challenged.
Under his leadership, Meta (formerly Facebook) has invested over $50 billion in the metaverse through its Reality Labs division, drawing criticism from investors who called it a “bet on the future” with uncertain returns. More recently, Zuckerberg has pivoted Meta toward artificial intelligence, launching open-source AI models and integrating AI assistants across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. His wealth has fluctuated by tens of billions of dollars in single days based on Meta’s earnings reports. Zuckerberg’s effective compensation is best understood as the annual increase in his net worth from his Meta holdings.
15. Andy Jassy
Company: Amazon
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Jassy received substantial stock grants upon being promoted to CEO, including a $214 million award that vests over ten years to encourage very long-term thinking. He previously founded and led Amazon Web Services (AWS), which became the company’s most profitable division and the world’s dominant cloud computing platform. Jassy’s compensation is tied to Amazon’s operating income, free cash flow, and the success of new initiatives including Project Kuiper (satellite internet), Amazon Healthcare (including the acquisition of One Medical), and physical retail expansion.
Under his leadership, Amazon has faced increasing antitrust scrutiny, including a landmark Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging that Amazon maintains an illegal monopoly. Jassy has also overseen massive cost-cutting measures, including the largest layoffs in Amazon’s history, reducing headcount by over 27,000 employees. His pay is modest compared to founder-CEOs because he is a professional manager, not a controlling shareholder.
16. Hock Tan
Company: Broadcom
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Tan’s compensation is heavily tied to Broadcom’s stock price, which soared as the company became the leading supplier of networking chips for artificial intelligence data centers. He is known for aggressive acquisitions and relentless cost-cutting, having transformed Avago Technologies into Broadcom, a $600 billion semiconductor and software powerhouse. Tan’s pay package often includes massive annual equity grants that vest only if he remains CEO for several more years, locking him into the company’s long-term strategy.
Under his leadership, Broadcom acquired VMware for $69 billion, the largest technology deal of its time, and immediately raised prices and cut costs to improve profitability. Tan is unique among tech CEOs for his operational intensity; he personally reviews every major hire, expense, and pricing decision. His compensation reflects the phenomenal growth of the AI chip market, where Broadcom’s custom chips and networking silicon are essential for building and connecting AI servers.
17. Nikesh Arora
Company: Palo Alto Networks
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Arora secured huge compensation packages as cybersecurity became the top priority for governments and corporations worldwide following high-profile breaches like Colonial Pipeline and SolarWinds. He previously served as an executive at Google and SoftBank, where he led the $100 billion Vision Fund before being passed over for the top job.
Arora transformed Palo Alto Networks from a hardware-focused firewall company into a cloud-based security platform offering zero-trust networking, AI-driven threat detection, and security for cloud workloads. His compensation is tied to the company’s revenue growth, billings (a leading indicator of future revenue), and share price performance relative to cybersecurity peers like CrowdStrike and Zscaler. Under his leadership, Palo Alto has aggressively moved to a subscription model, reducing reliance on one-time hardware sales. Arora’s pay reflects the urgent demand for digital protection as ransomware attacks and nation-state cyber threats escalate yearly.
18. Sue Nabi
Company: Coty
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Nabi became one of the highest-paid female CEOs globally after successfully turning around Coty, the struggling cosmetics company behind CoverGirl, Rimmel, and Calvin Klein fragrances. She is a former L’Oréal executive and is openly transgender, making her one of very few openly transgender CEOs of a global public company.
Nabi implemented a strategy focused on premium fragrances, clean beauty trends, and aggressive social media marketing to revitalize Coty’s brands, which had been losing market share for years. Her compensation package includes significant stock awards tied to revenue growth, margin expansion, and debt reduction, as Coty has struggled under a heavy debt load from previous acquisitions. Under her leadership, Coty launched successful products tied to social media influencers and celebrities, including collaborations with Kylie Jenner and the resurgence of the CoverGirl brand. Nabi’s pay reflects the difficulty of turning around a legacy consumer goods company facing competition from indie brands and direct-to-consumer startups.
19. David Zaslav
Company: Warner Bros. Discovery
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Zaslav’s pay has been controversial because his compensation package includes large cash bonuses even as the company has cut thousands of jobs and shelved completed films like Batgirl for tax write-offs following the merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia. He is known for his cost-cutting discipline, having grown Discovery from a small cable network into a media giant through acquisitions. Zaslav’s compensation is tied to aggressive financial targets including debt reduction (Warner Bros. Discovery had over $50 billion in debt after the merger), free cash flow, and the successful integration of HBO, CNN, DC Studios, Turner networks, and Warner Bros.’ film studio.
Under his leadership, the company has restructured DC Comics under James Gunn and Peter Safran, relaunched the Max streaming service, and pivoted toward fewer but higher-quality theatrical releases. Zaslav’s pay reflects the immense pressure to make Warner Bros. Discovery profitable amid declining traditional TV viewership and expensive streaming wars.
20. Marc Benioff
Company: Salesforce
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Benioff remains one of technology’s highest-paid executives as Salesforce continues to dominate customer relationship management (CRM) software, the largest enterprise software category. He co-founded Salesforce in 1999 and pioneered the software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model, now standard across the industry. Benioff’s compensation is heavily weighted toward stock options and restricted shares tied to Salesforce’s revenue growth, operating margin, and share price performance following years of investor criticism over declining profitability.
Under pressure from activist investors including Elliott Management, Benioff has cut costs, laid off thousands of employees, and focused on margin expansion. He is also known for his philanthropy, having pledged to give away the majority of his wealth and famously buying Time Magazine to restore trust in journalism. Benioff’s pay reflects Salesforce’s position as a Dow Jones component and a leader in enterprise AI, sales automation, and cloud-based business software, despite increasing competition from Microsoft.
21. Jensen Huang
Company: NVIDIA
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Huang’s wealth is primarily tied to his significant NVIDIA ownership stake, which soared as AI demand turned the chip designer into one of the world’s most valuable companies, briefly surpassing a $3 trillion market capitalization. He co-founded NVIDIA in 1993 and has served as CEO ever since, focusing relentlessly on graphics processing units (GPUs) long before they were recognized as the essential hardware for AI.
His annual CEO compensation includes a modest base salary and stock grants, but the vast majority of his wealth comes from stock appreciation. Under his leadership, NVIDIA’s GPUs became the standard for training large language models like ChatGPT, creating unprecedented demand and shortages. Huang is known for his signature leather jacket, energetic keynote presentations, and a corporate culture that eschews cubicles in favor of an open-plan office where all employees including the CEO have desks. His effective annual compensation is best measured by the billions added to his net worth each year.
22. Brian Moynihan
Company: Bank of America
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Moynihan’s compensation surged after Wall Street profits rebounded on higher interest rates, trading activity, and a recovery in investment banking fees following a post-COVID slowdown. He has led Bank of America since 2010, taking over after the financial crisis and navigating the bank through the aftermath of the 2008 meltdown, which left Bank of America with billions in legal settlements.
His pay package includes a base salary, annual cash bonus, and long-term stock awards tied to the bank’s return on tangible common equity, a key profitability metric. Under his leadership, Bank of America became known for its strong consumer banking franchise, technology investments including the Erica virtual assistant, and its commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals including net-zero emissions by 2050. Moynihan’s compensation reflects the health of the US banking sector and the premium paid to leaders who successfully navigated the regional banking crisis of 2023 without significant losses.
23. Jane Fraser
Company: Citigroup
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Fraser became one of the highest-paid female banking executives as she led a massive multi-year restructuring of the troubled Wall Street giant, the most complex bank in the United States. She is the first woman to lead a major US bank and previously ran Citi’s Latin America division, where she successfully navigated challenging markets. Fraser’s compensation is tied to Citi’s return on tangible common equity, stock price performance, and successful resolution of Federal Reserve consent orders over the bank’s risk management and data systems.
Under her leadership, Citi announced plans to eliminate layers of management, reduce headcount by 20,000 employees, and simplify its legal entity structure to address regulatory concerns. She has also sold underperforming international consumer banking businesses in markets like Mexico, Poland, and Bahrain to focus on wealth management and institutional clients. Fraser’s pay reflects the enormous difficulty of turning around a bank that had underperformed peers for over a decade.
24. Jamie Dimon
Company: JPMorgan Chase
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Dimon remains one of the most influential figures in global finance and consistently ranks among the highest-paid bank executives, having led JPMorgan since 2005. His compensation is almost entirely performance-based, tied to JPMorgan’s record profits, return on equity, and the bank’s stock price relative to competitors like Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Under his leadership, JPMorgan has become the largest and most profitable US bank, dominating investment banking, trading, credit cards, auto lending, and wealth management.
Dimon is known for his annual shareholder letters, which are widely read as commentaries on the economy, geopolitics, and banking regulation. He has repeatedly fended off rumors that he will leave to enter politics, including speculation about running for US president. Dimon’s pay reflects his rare status as a CEO who has led a major Wall Street bank for two decades without a significant scandal, navigating the 2008 crisis, the pandemic, and the regional banking crisis.
25. David Solomon
Company: Goldman Sachs
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Solomon’s pay includes a base salary, annual bonus, and long-term equity incentives tied to Goldman’s return on equity, absolute share price, and successful expansion into alternative asset management. A part-time disc jockey who performs under the name “DJ D-Sol,” Solomon faced criticism for Goldman’s failed consumer banking ambitions, including the Marcus brand, which lost billions and led to a strategic retreat. Under his leadership, Goldman has pivoted back to its investment banking and trading roots while building a substantial asset management business that manages over $2.5 trillion.
Solomon has also overhauled Goldman’s partnership culture, promoting younger executives and reducing the power of the traditional partnership committee. His compensation reflects the premium Wall Street pays for leaders who can navigate volatile markets, regulatory scrutiny, and the cyclical nature of investment banking, where profits can swing wildly. He has also faced shareholder votes rejecting his pay packages.
26. Safra Catz
Company: Oracle
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Catz’s pay is heavily tied to Oracle’s cloud revenue growth and operating margins as the legacy database giant pivots aggressively to compete with Amazon, Microsoft, and Google in cloud infrastructure. She has served as co-CEO alongside founder Larry Ellison for over a decade, with Catz focusing on operations, finance, and acquisitions while Ellison focuses on technology and strategy. Under her leadership, Oracle acquired Cerner, a healthcare IT company, for $28 billion, the largest acquisition in Oracle’s history, and has aggressively built out cloud data centers worldwide.
Catz is known for her intense focus on profitability; Oracle’s cloud margins have historically been higher than competitors because she has been disciplined about capital spending. Her compensation includes multi-year stock grants tied to Oracle’s share price and the success of its cloud transformation. She is one of the highest-paid female executives globally and has been described as the most powerful woman in Silicon Valley.
27. Chuck Robbins
Company: Cisco Systems
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Robbins’s compensation is tied to Cisco’s annual recurring revenue, subscription mix, and share price performance as he leads the networking giant through a transformation from hardware to recurring software and cybersecurity subscriptions. He took over from John Chambers in 2015 and has pivoted Cisco away from its reliance on traditional switch and router sales, which face competition from Arista Networks, cloud providers, and open-source networking software.
Under his leadership, Cisco has acquired dozens of software and security companies including Splunk for $28 billion, the largest acquisition in Cisco’s history, to build a comprehensive security and observability platform. Robbins’s pay includes performance-based stock units that only vest if Cisco meets targets for subscription revenue as a percentage of total sales. He has also navigated global supply chain disruptions and the shift to hybrid work, which reduced demand for enterprise networking equipment as offices partially emptied.
28. Brian Chesky
Company: Airbnb
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Chesky’s compensation is linked to nights booked, gross booking value, and Airbnb’s ability to manage regulatory challenges in major cities like New York, Paris, Barcelona, and San Francisco, where local laws restrict short-term rentals. He co-founded Airbnb in 2008, starting by renting air mattresses in his San Francisco apartment to pay rent. Chesky took a symbolic salary of $0 during the COVID-19 pandemic when travel collapsed, but received massive equity awards as Airbnb’s stock recovered and the company posted record profits.
Under his leadership, Airbnb has expanded into long-term stays (over 28 nights), experiences (local tours and activities), and luxury rentals, diversifying away from its core short-term vacation market. He has also redesigned Airbnb’s app and website, simplifying the booking process and adding features like “I’m Flexible” for travelers without fixed dates. Chesky’s pay reflects Airbnb’s position as the dominant player in alternative accommodations, rivaling traditional hotel chains.
29. Greg Abel
Company: Berkshire Hathaway
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Abel’s compensation is tied to the operating earnings and return on capital of Berkshire’s diverse subsidiaries, which employ hundreds of thousands of workers globally across railroads, utilities, manufacturing, and retail. He is Warren Buffett’s designated successor and oversees Berkshire’s non-insurance operations, including BNSF Railway, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Precision Castparts, and dozens of other companies like Fruit of the Loom and See’s Candies.
Abel joined Berkshire after selling his family’s energy company to Buffett and has been groomed for the top job for years. His compensation is modest compared to other CEOs on this list because Buffett’s compensation philosophy has always favored low salaries and long-term ownership rather than annual bonuses. Abel’s wealth comes primarily from his personal investments in Berkshire stock rather than annual cash pay. He is known for his operational expertise, having turned around troubled acquisitions and improved the profitability of Berkshire’s industrial businesses.
30. Jack Dorsey
Company: Block
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Dorsey’s compensation is almost entirely tied to Block’s stock price, which is highly volatile based on bitcoin’s price and regulatory sentiment toward cryptocurrency. He co-founded Block (formerly Square) to enable small businesses to accept credit cards via mobile phones, and later co-founded Twitter (now X). Dorsey is a true believer in bitcoin, integrating crypto payments and decentralized finance into Block’s products including Cash App, which allows users to buy, sell, and transfer bitcoin commission-free. Under his leadership, Block has expanded into buy-now-pay-later lending through Afterpay, music streaming through Tidal, and decentralized bitcoin mining.
Dorsey stepped down as CEO of Twitter to focus on Block and decentralized social media protocols, including Bluesky. He famously took a salary of $0 while building both companies, earning instead through equity. His compensation reflects his unusual leadership style, which includes running multiple companies simultaneously, working remotely from Africa, and prioritizing bitcoin adoption over short-term profits.
31. Cristiano Amon
Company: Qualcomm
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Amon’s pay is tied to revenue diversification beyond Samsung and Apple smartphones, as Qualcomm seeks to become a leader in automotive chips, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and AI-enabled PCs. He previously led Qualcomm’s chip division (QCT) and was promoted to CEO in 2021, succeeding Steve Mollenkopf. Under Amon’s leadership, Qualcomm has won design contracts with automakers like BMW, General Motors, and Volkswagen to supply chips for digital dashboards and driver-assistance systems.
He has also diversified away from reliance on Apple as a modem customer, as Apple develops its own 5G and Wi-Fi chips. Amon’s compensation reflects Qualcomm’s legal and regulatory victories defending its patent licensing model, including settlements with Huawei and the resolution of disputes with the Federal Trade Commission. He also oversees Qualcomm’s expansion into AI-powered PCs, competing directly with Intel and AMD with Snapdragon X series processors.
32. George Kurtz
Company: CrowdStrike
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Kurtz’s compensation is tied to CrowdStrike’s annual recurring revenue, net retention rates (a measure of customer expansion), and the company’s share price as a leader in cloud-native endpoint security. He co-founded CrowdStrike after serving as CTO of McAfee, where he led the investigation of the 2011 breach of the International Monetary Fund. CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform uses AI to detect and stop sophisticated cyberattacks across corporate networks, including nation-state actors and ransomware gangs.
Under his leadership, CrowdStrike went public in 2019 and has grown to become one of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world. Kurtz is a recognised expert who testifies before Congress on national security threats and advises major corporations on incident response. His compensation reflects the mission-critical nature of CrowdStrike’s services, as data breaches and ransomware attacks cost businesses billions annually, and the company has famously stopped attacks on the Democratic National Committee and Colonial Pipeline.
33. Alex Chriss
Company: PayPal
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Chriss’s compensation is tied to PayPal’s total payment volume, transaction margin dollars, and the successful rollout of new products including its stablecoin (PYUSD) and smart receipts. He previously ran Intuit’s QuickBooks division and was brought in to revitalize PayPal after activist investor pressure on former CEO Dan Schulman. Under Chriss’s leadership, PayPal has launched a small business lending program, redesigned its checkout experience, and expanded its rewards program to compete with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Block’s Cash App.
He has also cut costs, including layoffs, and refocused the company on its core branded checkout products rather than unprofitable acquisitions. Chriss’s compensation reflects the intense competition in digital payments, where PayPal faces pressure from traditional banks investing heavily in their own payment apps, tech giants like Apple, and fintech upstarts like Stripe. He is also working to turn around Venmo, PayPal’s peer-to-peer payment app, which has struggled to monetize its user base.
34. Pat Gelsinger
Company: Intel
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Gelsinger’s compensation is tied to Intel’s progress on process technology (catching up to Taiwan’s TSMC), foundry customer wins, and share price recovery as he leads a massive turnaround of the fallen American semiconductor icon. He returned to Intel as CEO in 2021 after decades at the company, then left for EMC and VMware, to restore Intel’s engineering culture, which had become complacent during years of dominance. Under his leadership, Intel has announced over $100 billion in factory investments across the US and Europe, including new fabs in Ohio, Arizona, Germany, and Poland.
Gelsinger has also launched Intel Foundry Services, a contract chip-manufacturing business, to compete directly with TSMC and Samsung. His compensation reflects the immense difficulty of rebuilding an American semiconductor champion that fell behind competitors like AMD and NVIDIA during years of process technology delays. Gelsinger has also faced investor skepticism, with Intel’s stock lagging peers as the turnaround takes longer than expected.
35. Stefan Bollinger
Company: Linde plc
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Bollinger’s pay is tied to Linde’s earnings per share, return on capital, and successful execution of large-scale engineering projects including carbon capture facilities and hydrogen fueling stations. He leads the world’s largest industrial gas company, which supplies oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen to hospitals, factories, steel mills, and chemical plants.
Industrial gases are a steady, recession-resistant business because hospitals always need oxygen and factories always need shielding gases for welding. Under Bollinger’s leadership, Linde has benefited from the energy transition, supplying hydrogen for clean energy projects and carbon capture technology to reduce emissions from industrial processes. His compensation has also increased due to Linde’s pricing power; industrial gas contracts include escalators tied to inflation, protecting margins. Bollinger’s pay reflects the safety-critical nature of Linde’s operations, as industrial gases are often toxic, flammable, or stored under high pressure, requiring world-class safety systems.
36. Sergio Ermotti
Company: UBS
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Ermotti’s compensation is tied to UBS’s successful integration of Credit Suisse’s technology, employees, and clients without catastrophic disruption, following the emergency government-brokered takeover of the failed rival bank. He returned to UBS specifically to manage the acquisition, having previously served as CEO and successfully navigated the bank after the 2008 financial crisis. The merger created a Swiss banking giant with $1.7 trillion in assets, a dominant wealth management franchise, and a reduced risk profile.
Under Ermotti’s leadership, UBS has announced plans to cut thousands of jobs, wind down Credit Suisse’s investment banking division, and integrate its technology systems. His compensation reflects the historic nature of the deal, the political sensitivity of creating a Swiss banking monopoly, and the personal risk of overseeing one of the most complex bank mergers in history. Ermotti has also had to navigate Swiss regulatory and political backlash, including parliamentary inquiries into the merger.
37. Vasant Narasimhan
Company: Novartis
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Narasimhan’s compensation is tied to Novartis’s pipeline of new drug approvals, revenue growth, and share price performance relative to competitors like Roche, Pfizer, and Merck. A physician by training, Narasimhan shifted Novartis’s research budget toward highly innovative but risky technologies like gene therapies, radioligand cancer treatments, and CRISPR gene editing.
Under his leadership, Novartis spun off its generics business Sandoz to focus exclusively on innovative medicines, and has won approvals for groundbreaking drugs including Zolgensma (a one-time gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, the most expensive drug in history) and Pluvicto (for prostate cancer). His compensation is heavily weighted toward long-term stock grants that vest only if Novartis’s drugs deliver clinical trial results and commercial success. Narasimhan’s pay reflects the pharmaceutical industry’s massive profitability and the premium paid for executives who successfully navigate drug pricing pressure, patent cliffs, and the high risk of clinical trial failures.
38. Reed Hastings
Company: Netflix
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Hastings’s wealth is overwhelmingly tied to his Netflix share ownership rather than annual salary, as he stepped back from day-to-day management but remains involved in strategy and culture. He co-founded Netflix in 1997, famously pivoting from DVD-by-mail to streaming, then to original content, and most recently to advertising and live events. Hastings is the author of “No Rules Rules,” a book about Netflix’s corporate culture of radical candor, high performance, and unlimited vacation.
His annual compensation has historically been a modest base salary, with the vast majority of his wealth coming from stock appreciation as Netflix grew from a DVD rental service into a $200 billion streaming giant. Under his leadership, Netflix won hundreds of Emmys and Oscars, disrupted Hollywood, and created the streaming industry. Hastings’s effective annual compensation is best understood as the increase in his net worth from his Netflix holdings, which has grown by billions over time.
39. Michael Arougheti
Company: Ares Management
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Arougheti’s compensation is tied to Ares’s assets under management, fund performance, and stock price as the credit-focused alternative asset manager competes with Blackstone, KKR, and Apollo in the booming private credit market. He co-founded Ares in 1997 and has built it into one of the world’s largest credit managers, lending billions to companies that cannot access traditional bank loans. Ares is a leading direct lender in the leveraged loan market, providing financing for private equity buyouts, infrastructure projects, and commercial real estate.
Arougheti’s compensation includes carried interest distributions, which pay out when Ares’s funds successfully exit investments, as well as management fees tied to total assets. Under his leadership, Ares has expanded into private equity, real estate, and infrastructure, diversifying beyond its credit roots. His pay reflects the explosive growth of private credit as banks have retreated from corporate lending following post-2008 regulations.
40. James Anderson
Company: Generation IM
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Anderson’s compensation is directly tied to the returns generated by Generation IM’s climate-focused investment funds, which put billions of dollars into clean energy, electric vehicles, carbon removal, and sustainable agriculture. He previously had a celebrated career at Baillie Gifford, where he was an early and prescient investor in Tesla, Amazon, Moderna, and other high-growth companies. Anderson co-manages Generation IM with Al Gore, the former US Vice President and climate activist.
His pay is structured as a percentage of the profits generated by the firm’s funds, meaning he earns substantially more in years when the funds perform well. Under his leadership, Generation IM has invested in companies including Stripe (online payments), Rivian (electric trucks), and Northvolt (battery manufacturing). Anderson’s compensation reflects the growing demand for ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing and the premium paid for asset managers who consistently beat market benchmarks while also achieving positive climate impact.
41. Karl Toriola
Company: MTN Nigeria
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Toriola’s pay includes base salary, performance bonuses, and long-term incentives tied to MTN Nigeria’s subscriber growth, data revenue, and successful management of Nigeria’s challenging regulatory and economic environment. MTN Nigeria is the country’s largest mobile network operator, with tens of millions of subscribers and a dominant position in data and mobile money. Toriola’s compensation reflects the difficulty of operating in Africa’s largest economy, where currency volatility (the naira has lost over 70% of its value in recent years), infrastructure gaps, fuel subsidy removal, and regulatory uncertainty make telecom management exceptionally challenging.
Under his leadership, MTN Nigeria has rolled out 5G, expanded its fintech platform MoMo Agent (mobile money), and navigated regulatory disputes over taxes and operating licenses. Toriola’s pay also includes allowances for security, as executives in Nigeria face kidnapping and extortion risks. He is one of Africa’s highest-paid executives, reflecting MTN’s scale and profitability.
42. Roger Thompson Brown
Company: Interswitch
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Brown’s compensation is tied to Interswitch’s transaction volumes, merchant adoption, and the company’s long-awaited initial public offering (IPO), which would value Interswitch at billions of dollars. Interswitch is Nigeria’s answer to Visa and Mastercard, processing billions of transactions annually through its Verve card network and payment processing infrastructure. Brown, a Nigerian-born computer scientist, joined Interswitch in 2002 and has led its expansion into banking software, consumer payments, and international remittances.
Under his leadership, Interswitch has expanded across Africa, processing payments in Kenya, Uganda, and other markets. His compensation reflects the fintech boom in Africa, where mobile money and digital payments are leapfrogging traditional banking infrastructure, and investors are pouring billions into African financial technology startups. Interswitch’s backers include Visa, which took a strategic stake, and private equity firms including Helios Investment Partners and TPG.
43. Arvind Pathak
Company: Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL)
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Pathak’s pay is set by the Indian government’s Public Enterprises Selection Board and includes base salary, performance-related pay, and benefits tied to BPCL’s refinery utilisation rates, sales volume, and profitability. BPCL is a state-controlled Indian oil and gas giant with billions in annual revenue, operating refineries, fuel retail stations, and a growing renewable energy business. Pathak’s compensation reflects the unique challenge of leading a partially-privatised public sector undertaking in India’s politically sensitive energy sector, where fuel prices are regulated and elections influence petrol and diesel taxes.
Under his leadership, BPCL has expanded its retail network, invested in petrochemicals to capture more value from each barrel of crude, and built solar and wind power projects to reduce its carbon footprint. Pathak’s pay is lower than private-sector CEOs but includes generous benefits including housing, cars, healthcare, and retirement benefits that add significant value.
44. Segun Agbaje
Company: Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO)
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Agbaje’s compensation is tied to GTCO’s return on equity, non-performing loan ratios, and share price performance on both the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. He is one of West Africa’s most successful bankers, having led GTBank (now GTCO) for over a decade, building it into one of Nigeria’s most profitable and best-managed financial institutions. GTCO is a financial services holding company with banking, payments, pension, and asset management businesses across Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and several other African countries.
Under Agbaje’s leadership, GTCO has maintained some of the highest return-on-equity ratios in African banking, with best-in-class digital banking and corporate lending. His compensation reflects the premium paid for experienced executives in African banking, where talent is scarce and competition for skilled leaders is fierce. Agbaje is also a significant shareholder in GTCO, aligning his interests with those of other investors.
45. Adaora Umeoji
Company: Zenith Bank
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Umeoji’s compensation includes base salary, performance bonuses tied to deposit growth and loan quality, and long-term incentives as a senior executive at Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s largest and most profitable banks. She has held multiple leadership roles at Zenith, overseeing its Lagos and international operations, and is a recognised figure in Nigerian banking and Catholic philanthropy. Umeoji’s pay reflects the slow but real progress of women into senior executive roles in African finance, though female CEOs in Nigerian banking remain extremely rare.
Zenith Bank is known for its strong corporate banking franchise, technology leadership, and conservative risk management, with one of the lowest non-performing loan ratios in the industry. Umeoji’s compensation also includes allowances for housing, transportation, and security, standard for senior executives in Nigeria given the high cost of living and security risks in Lagos, the commercial capital.
46. Wale Tinubu
Company: Oando PLC
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Tinubu’s compensation is tied to Oando’s production volumes, reserve replacement ratio, and successful resolution of years-long regulatory disputes with Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission. He co-founded Oando, a Nigerian integrated energy company, and built it into one of the country’s largest indigenous oil companies through acquisitions and strategic partnerships with multinationals like Eni and Vitol. Tinubu is a lawyer by training and is the nephew of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, though Oando has maintained its independence.
Under his leadership, Oando has expanded from oil trading into upstream exploration and production (E&P), refining, and renewable energy, including a major solar power project. Tinubu’s compensation reflects the immense risk and reward of leading an independent oil company in the Niger Delta, where security threats (oil theft, pipeline vandalism, kidnapping), corruption, and environmental regulation create constant challenges.
47. Michael Bloomberg
Company: Bloomberg LP
Earnings: Specific annual compensation figures are not publicly available as Bloomberg is a private company, but his earnings include his share of Bloomberg LP’s billions in annual profits. Bloomberg co-founded the financial data and media company in 1981 after being fired from Salomon Brothers, using his severance to build the first Bloomberg Terminal. He served as Mayor of New York City for three terms and returned to lead the company, and is now Executive Chairman. Bloomberg LP is the world’s dominant provider of financial data terminals, used by banks, investment firms, and central banks globally, with over 300,000 subscribers paying over $20,000 per terminal annually.
Bloomberg’s personal compensation includes not just his share of profits but also his ownership stake, which makes him one of the richest people alive. His pay reflects his unique status as a founder-owner-executive of a private company that never went public, generating steady, recession-resistant revenue from Wall Street subscriptions. He has pledged to give away his fortune.
48. Phil Knight
Company: Nike
Earnings: Knight no longer takes a traditional CEO salary, having stepped down from day-to-day leadership years ago while remaining Chairman Emeritus. His wealth is tied to Nike’s stock price as controlling shareholder, with gains measured in billions during years of share appreciation. Knight co-founded Nike in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, selling Japanese running shoes from the trunk of his car, and transformed it into the world’s largest athletic apparel company. Under his leadership, Nike signed Michael Jordan, created Air Jordans, and built a global brand synonymous with sports and sneaker culture.
His effective annual compensation is best understood as the increase in his net worth from his Nike holdings, which has grown by billions over time. Knight is known for his philanthropy, donating billions to the University of Oregon (his alma mater), Stanford University (where his son died in a scuba diving accident), and other causes. His pay reflects his founder status rather than an annual executive compensation package.
49. Masayoshi Son
Company: SoftBank Group
Earnings: Specific compensation figures for the current year are not yet publicly available. Son’s pay is almost entirely tied to the valuation of SoftBank’s portfolio, which includes Alibaba, Arm Holdings, ByteDance (owner of TikTok), and hundreds of technology startups through the Vision Fund. He founded SoftBank in 1981 as a software distributor and transformed it into a telecommunications and technology investment giant.
Son is known for his aggressive, high-risk investment style, once losing billions on investments in WeWork, Uber, and other startups, but also earning billions on his early $20 million investment in Alibaba, which grew to be worth over $100 billion. His compensation fluctuates wildly based on tech stock prices and the success of Vision Fund’s secondary sales of its stakes. Son’s pay reflects his unique status as one of the world’s most aggressive and influential tech investors, with the Vision Fund controlling over $100 billion in capital from sovereign wealth funds. He has announced his intention to focus on AI investments.
50. Mukesh Ambani
Company: Reliance Industries
Earnings: Ambani typically takes a symbolic salary, with his compensation and wealth coming from his controlling stake in Reliance and the appreciation of its stock. He inherited Reliance from his father Dhirubhai Ambani and has transformed it from a textiles and petrochemicals company into a conglomerate with businesses in refining, retail, telecommunications (Jio), and green energy. Under Ambani’s leadership, Reliance launched Jio, which disrupted India’s telecom market by offering free voice and ultra-cheap data, making mobile internet accessible to hundreds of millions of Indians for the first time.
He then raised billions from investors including Facebook, Google, and Silver Lake to expand Jio’s digital ecosystem and reduce Reliance’s debt. Ambani’s annual base salary has historically been capped at around $100,000, but his effective compensation is the increase in his net worth from his Reliance stake, which has grown by tens of billions over time. He is India’s richest person and lives in Antilia, one of the world’s most expensive private homes.
Why CEO Pay Has Become So Massive
Modern CEO compensation is no longer mostly salary. Instead, it is heavily tied to stock awards, performance bonuses, long-term incentives, and company share prices. This means a CEO can receive a relatively small base salary but still earn hundreds of millions through stock appreciation. Technology and AI companies currently dominate executive compensation because investors are pouring enormous amounts of money into artificial intelligence, semiconductors, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data infrastructure.
Private equity and alternative asset management executives also rank highly because their compensation is tied directly to the profits generated by their funds, which can be enormous in successful years. The rise of performance-based pay has been driven by shareholder activism demanding that executive compensation be aligned with long-term shareholder returns rather than guaranteed salaries.
The Controversy Around CEO Pay
CEO compensation has become one of the most debated topics in capitalism. Critics argue that worker wages have not kept up, inequality is growing, and executives earn too much compared to employees. Some studies show top CEOs can earn more in a few days than average workers make in an entire year. The ratio of CEO-to-worker pay has grown from about 20-to-1 in the 1960s to over 300-to-1 in recent years.
Critics also point out that performance-based pay often rewards CEOs even when their companies underperform, through manipulated metrics or bull markets that lift all stocks. Supporters argue that CEOs manage trillion-dollar corporations, leadership decisions affect millions of jobs and billions in shareholder value, and performance-based pay rewards shareholder growth. They also note that most CEO wealth is tied up in company stock, meaning they only get rich if shareholders also get rich. Either way, the gap between executive pay and ordinary worker salaries continues to widen globally.