Hundreds of CEOs earn eight-figure salaries — at least $10 million — each year. And many pull in even higher salaries, sometimes several times that amount. Top-performing — and sometimes less than top-performing — CEOs are rewarded with lucrative contracts that generally include salary, bonuses, stock and options grants, and benefits. In a few cases, CEOs are set to earn more than $100 million in total compensation in 2018.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from Equilar Inc. on the total compensation of American CEOs to determine the highest paid CEOs in 2018.
Calls for corporate accountability have grown louder in recent years. Many feel that CEO pay has become excessive, especially when compared to many of their workers. Each of the 25 highest-paid CEOs among major publicly traded companies is paid at least 200 times the average salary of their employees. Mindy Grossman, CEO of Weight Watchers International, has the highest CEO-to-average-worker-pay ratio — earning 5,908 times more than the company’s average employee.
There has also been a recent push to hold powerful executives more accountable for their personal actions. Les Moonves stepped down as the head of CBS after six women accused him of sexual harassment. Steve Wynn also left Wynn Resorts after similar claims against him surfaced.
To determine the 25 highest paid CEOs in 2018, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data compiled by Equilar, a provider of executive compensation tracking tools and data. Equilar ranked the top 200 chief executives by their total compensations, which generally include salary, bonuses, stock and options grants, and benefits. Each company’s annual revenue came from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Some CEOs are no longer with the companies for which they are listed. Leslie Moonves of CBS and Steve Wynn of Wynn Resorts both lost their positions in the wake of sexual harassment allegations. Margaret Georgiadis left Mattel to head Ancestry.com. Other CEOs, like Jeffrey Bewkes, left their post after their companies — in Bewkes’ case Time Warner — were bought out or merged with another corporation.
| Rank | CEO | Company | Annual Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Joshua W. Sapan | AMC Networks | $29.6 million |
| 24 | Mark D. Okerstrom | Expedia Group | $30.7 million |
| 23 | Margaret H. Georgiadis | Mattel | $31.3 million |
| 22 | Brenton L. Saunders | Allergan | $32.8 million |
| 21 | Mindy Grossman | Weight Watchers International | $33.4 million |
| 20 | Stephen A. Wynn | Wynn Resorts | $34.5 million |
| 19 | Martine Rothblatt | United Therapeutics | $35.9 million |
| 18 | Robert A. Iger | Walt Disney | $36.3 million |
| 17 | Ari Bousbib | IQVIA Holdings | $37.5 million |
| 16 | Safra A. Catz | Oracle | $40.7 million |
| 15 | Mark V. Hurd | Oracle | $40.8 million |
| 14 | John Donahoe | ServiceNow | $41.5 million |
| 13 | David M. Zaslav | Discovery Communications | $42.2 million |
| 12 | Dirk Van de Put | Mondelez International | $42.4 million |
| 11 | Brian Duperreault | American International Group | $42.8 million |
| 10 | Stephen Kaufer | TripAdvisor | $43.2 million |
| 9 | Ronald F. Clarke | FleetCor Technologies | $45.1 million |
| 8 | Jeffrey L. Bewkes | Time Warner | $49.0 million |
| 7 | Dexter Goei | Altice USA | $53.6 million |
| 6 | W. Nicholas Howley | TransDigm Group | $61.0 million |
| 5 | Gregory B. Maffei | Liberty Media & Qurate Retail Group | $67.2 million |
| 4 | Leslie Moonves | CBS | $68.4 million |
| 3 | Michael Rapino | Live Nation Entertainment | $70.6 million |
| 2 | Frank J. Bisignano | First Data | $102.2 million |
| 1 | Hock E. Tan | Broadcom | $103.2 million |
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