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CEO compensation is on a strong upward trajectory. The 2026 edition of the Equilar 100 study shows median CEO compensation reached $29.4 million in 2025, up 23.2% from the previous year. The surge in compensation is the sharpest rise since 2021, when boards rewarded their CEOs with lucrative pay packages for navigating the turbulence and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the corporate environment continues to evolve, CEOs are expected to serve as strategic visionaries, guiding their organizations through the next wave of innovation. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) has drastically reshaped business priorities, prompting many companies to incentivize their CEOs to navigate this emerging era. For example, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan’s 2025 PSU award is closely tied to the Company achieving ambitious revenue targets for its AI products. Several other CEOs on this year’s list also have compensation plans tied to AI-driven goals and priorities, including Andrew Wilson of EA, Rainer Blair of Danaher and Helen Torley of Halozyme Therapeutics.
Against this backdrop of rising compensation and shifting strategic priorities, the Equilar 100 provides a timely snapshot of how these trends are shaping CEO pay. The study offers an early glimpse into CEO compensation packages among U.S. public companies with $1 billion or more in annual revenue. For the third consecutive year, Equilar has partnered with Barron’s to analyze CEO pay packages for companies that have filed their proxy statements by March 31, 2026, the midpoint of proxy season. With thousands of more companies filing their annual proxy statements in April, a comprehensive analysis is forthcoming once all the data has been collected and processed.
The introductory page features the top 10 highest-paid CEOs among Equilar 100 companies in 2025. An interactive chart below the table provides access to the full rankings, allowing users to sort by total compensation, revenue and other company metrics. A summary of key findings from the report is also included on this page.
| EXECUTIVE NAME
COMPANY NAME (TICKER) |
TOTAL COMPENSATION | CHANGE IN PAY | FYE 2025 REVENUE ($M) | |||
| 1 |
|
$280,847,068 | 99088% | $12,457 | ||
| 2 |
|
$205,278,006 | 7692% | $63,887 | ||
| 3 |
|
$172,436,133 | 40875% | $2,746 | ||
| 4 |
|
$118,891,594 | 280% | $59,396 | ||
| 5 |
|
$101,325,375 | N/A | $3,626 | ||
| 6 |
|
$99,736,336 | 72% | $9,221 | ||
| 7 |
|
$96,496,790 | 22% | $281,724 | ||
| 8 |
|
$94,522,642 | 212% | $80,041 | ||
| 9 |
|
$92,990,900 | N/A | $52,853 | ||
| 10 |
|
$83,472,970 | 258% | $20,112 |
Key Trends and Takeaways
CEO compensation surges. In 2025, median compensation for Equilar 100 CEOs reached $29.4 million, a 23.2% increase from the previous year and well above the typical annual growth rate. Last year’s CEOs saw a 9.5% increase in median compensation. The spike in 2025 marks the largest year-over-year increase since the 2022 study, which recorded a 30.8% jump in pay in 2021, driven by post-pandemic incentives.
While last year’s study featured just one nine-figure pay package, the 2026 edition includes five CEOs surpassing the $100 million mark, with two exceeding $200 million. Topping this year’s list is Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah, whose total disclosed compensation reached $280.8 million in 2025. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan followed at $205.3 million. In both cases, long-term stock awards, set to pay out over multiple years upon the achievement of performance targets, accounted for the vast majority of total compensation.
Stock awards drive the rise in total pay. The median value of stock awards climbed 38.8% year over year, rising from $15.7 million in 2024 to $21.9 million in 2025. Stock awards typically make up over 70% of total compensation. Given that these awards represent the largest component of CEO compensation, increases in their value have an outsized impact on total pay levels. The awards are typically tied to multi-year performance goals, reinforcing the pay-for-performance philosophy that has become standard since the passage of Dodd-Frank and the implementation of Say on Pay provisions.
Cash compensation components also saw notable gains in 2025. Base salaries increased 5.3%, while cash bonuses rose 17.2%. Perquisites experienced a significant jump, increasing 24.2% year over year, from $315,688 to $391,991. This rise is not unexpected, given the growing emphasis on executive security, as nearly a year and a half has passed since the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Preliminary Equilar data indicates that nearly 38% of S&P 500 companies disclosed executive security perks for 2025, up roughly 13% from the previous year.
The CEO Pay Ratio widens. The median CEO Pay Ratio among Equilar 100 companies jumped to 341:1 in 2025. The uptick marks a 13.7% increase from last year’s median of 300:1. Median employee compensation also grew, reaching $99,229—an increase of nearly 10% from just over $90,000 the prior year. Despite this upward movement in employee pay, the expanding gap between CEO and worker compensation is likely to draw continued public scrutiny, particularly amid ongoing cost-cutting measures and increased investment in artificial intelligence.
Five women are featured on the highest-paid list. The 2026 Equilar 100 list includes just five women, down from six the previous year. Median compensation for these CEOs reached $27.7 million in 2025. Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices was the highest-paid woman on the list, earning a total compensation package of $55.2 million in 2025.
Walmart maintains its lead in revenue. For the second consecutive year, Walmart reported the highest revenue among Equilar 100 companies, reaching $681 billion for the fiscal year-end 2025. Apple, which held the top spot for five straight years, ranked second with $416.2 billion in revenue. Overall, median revenue among Equilar 100 companies rose to $25.7 billion in 2025, marking the first increase after three consecutive years of decline. By comparison, median revenue was $24.7 billion in 2024 and $25.1 billion in 2023.
*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 recent fiscal year by March 31, 2026. The figures represent what was awarded to a CEO in the most recent fiscal year, 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.
Senior Director of Content at Equilar
Amit Batish, Senior Director of Content & Communications at Equilar, authored this post. Courtney Yu, Director of Research, provided data and analysis. Please contact Amit Batish at abatish@equilar.com for more information about Equilar data and analysis.
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