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CEO Pay Rising for Both Genders

May 19, 2015

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Equilar’s Annual Study of Top Paid CEOs Reveals Highest Levels in Nine Years

On May 16, 2015, Equilar announced the publication of the Equilar 200 CEO Pay Study in The New York Times.

This list contains the 200 highest-paid chief executive officers among public U.S. companies valued at $1 billion or more in market capitalization. This is the second of two annual CEO studies Equilar compiles with The New York Times based on proxy filings from thousands of U.S. firms. The first study appeared in April 2014 and focused on the pay of chief executives at the 100 largest companies.

At $17.6 million, the median pay for CEOs is the highest it’s been since Equilar began this study 9 years ago. Median pay for all 200 CEOs grew 1.9% compared to 2013, while the median pay for female CEOs increased by 13.9%.

Notable Highlights – Equilar 200 CEO Pay Study

1. Among the top CEOs, the highest paid woman was Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! at $42.1 million sitting at 14th on the list.

2. Out of the top 200 CEOs, 13 of the executives are women, a net increase of two from last year’s study.

3. Median pay for the 13 female CEOs was $17.9 million, a growth of 13.9% over last year’s study.

Deep Dive into Notable Highlights

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, replaced Martine Rothblatt of United Therapeutics as the highest paid female executive in 2014, moving up 20 spots in the rankings from last year’s study. Her salary increased 69% from 2013.

The number of female executives in the Equilar 200 CEO Pay Study is slowly increasing. Patricia Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland (120th), Mary Barra of General Motors (126th), and Laura Alber of Williams-Sonoma (149th) were all added to the list in 2014. Mindy F. Grossman, CEO of HSN, appeared at number 157 in 2013, but failed to make the list again this year.

The median salary for these 13 women reached $17,942,400, an increase of over $2 million from the median pay for the 11 women who made the list in 2013 ($15,746,535).

For more information on CEO Pay, keep an eye out for the upcoming Equilar 2015 CEO Pay Strategies Report, or visit our Knowledge Center for more articles.