Equilar | New York Times 100 Highest-Paid CEOs

Stock Awards Jumped Almost 50% for America’s Highest-Paid CEOs

June 6, 2025

Joyce Chen

Chief executive officers (CEOs) play a crucial role in leading companies, making vital strategic choices that impact profitability and overall success. Often representing their organization publicly, they carry the weight of company performance. This significant responsibility typically translates into lucrative compensation packages.

Equilar has partnered with The New York Times for 18 years to analyze trends in CEO compensation across corporate America. The New York Times  recently published key findings from the annual CEO pay study, revealing compensation for top executives remains at a high level. For the purposes of this post, Equilar takes a closer look at a select portion of the data shared with The Times. This post examines the 100 largest CEO pay packages among U.S. public companies with revenues of at least $1 billion, but only those that filed a proxy statement by April 30, 2025 (see full methodology in footer).

The opening of this feature showcases the 10 highest-paid CEOs in 2024. Just below the table, you’ll find a link to view the full list of the Equilar 100 CEOs in an interactive chart, sortable by compensation, revenue and other company measurements. A summary of key findings from the study follows on this page.

	EXECUTIVE NAME COMPANY NAME (TICKER)	TOTAL COMPENSATION	CHANGE IN PAY	FY 2024 REVENUE ($M)
1	Patrick W. Smith Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON)	$164,525,721	410,619%	$2,082
2	James Robert Anderson Coherent Corp. (COHR)	$101,497,009	N/A	$4,707
3	Brian R. Niccol Starbucks Corporation (SBUX)	$95,801,676	N/A	$36,176
4	H. Lawrence Culp, Jr. General Electric Company (GE)	$87,393,875	538%	$38,702
5	Michael J. Arougheti Ares Management Corporation (ARES)	$85,381,842	179%	$3,884
6	Satya Nadella Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)	$79,106,183	63%	$245,122
7	Timothy D. Cook Apple Inc. (AAPL)	$74,609,802	18%	$391,035
8	W. Gregory Lehmkuhl Lineage, Inc. (LINE)	$69,341,442	499%	$5,340
9	David L. Gitlin Carrier Global Corporation (CARR)	$65,554,845	271%	$22,486
10	Theodore A. Sarandos Netflix, Inc. (NFLX)	$61,922,397	24%	$39,000

---

Key Trends and Takeaways

• CEO compensation up 21.9%. The median total compensation was $30.9 million in 2024, up over 21% from 2023, when the median compensation was $25.4 million. The highest-paid CEO in the study is Patrick W. Smith of Axon Enterprise, Inc., whose total pay package was $164.5 million, in which almost all of it was stock awards.

• Stock award values continue to soar. In 2024, the median value of stock awards jumped 49.7%, increasing from $15.5 million to $23.1 million. On the other hand, other pay components, including base salary and bonus, revealed minimal change over the last year. It’s important to note that the disclosed figures represent the grant date fair value of award—compensation that the CEOs on this list will likely not realize until a future date and only if they meet the performance goals established by their organizations.

• CEO Pay Ratio reaches 348:1. In 2024, the CEO pay ratio for companies in the study increased to 348:1, with the median employee earning $96,548. However, direct comparisons between CEO and median employee pay can be challenging due to differing compensation structures, with CEOs primarily receiving stock awards and median employees relying more on salaries and bonuses.

• Eight women make the 100 highest-paid CEOs list. Eight women were among the highest-paid CEOs in 2024, earning a median of $33.9 million—slightly higher than the overall median of the study. Fidji Simo, CEO at Maplebear Inc, was the highest-paid woman in 2024, earning a pay package of $46.6 million.

• Walmart continues to record highest revenue. For the second year in a row, retail giant Walmart led all companies in the study with a recorded revenue of almost $681 billion in 2024. Overall, the median revenue was $17.7 billion for the companies in the study.

Methodology Notes: The Equilar 100 includes the largest pay packages awarded to CEOs from U.S.-based or listed companies with more than $1 billion in revenue that filed proxy statements for the most recently completed fiscal year by April 30, 2025. The figures represent what was awarded to a CEO in 2024, and include salary, cash bonuses, stock and options awards valued at grant date, and other compensation (including benefits and perks). These numbers exclude change in pension values and above market earnings on deferred compensation. While many of the companies in the Equilar 100 are consistent from year to year, due to changes in revenue the list is not the same every year.

Contact



Amit Batish

Associate Editor

Joyce Chen, Associate Editor at Equilar, authored this post. Courtney Yu, Director of Research, contributed data and analysis. Please contact Amit Batish, Sr. Director of Content & Communications, at abatish@equilar.com for more information on Equilar research and data analysis.

---

Share

---