Hundreds of CEOs earn eight-figure salaries — at least $10 million — each year. And many pull in even higher salaries, 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.
Methodology
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.
Click here to see the highest paid CEOs of 2018.
25. Josh Sapan
> Company: AMC Networks (AMCX)
> Annual compensation: $29.6 million
> Company revenue: $2.8 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 449x
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24. Mark D. Okerstrom
> Company: Expedia Group (EXPE)
> Annual compensation: $30.7 million
> Company revenue: $10.1 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 431x
23. Margaret Georgiadis
> Company: Mattel (MAT)
> Annual compensation: $31.3 million
> Company revenue: $4.9 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 4,987x
22. Brenton L. Saunders
> Company: Allergan (AGN)
> Annual compensation: $32.8 million
> Company revenue: $1.6 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 349x
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21. Mindy Grossman
> Company: Weight Watchers International (WTW)
> Annual compensation: $33.4 million
> Company revenue: $1.3 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 5,908x
20. Steve Wynn
> Company: Wynn Resorts (WYNN)
> Annual compensation: $34.5 million
> Company revenue: $6.3 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 909x
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19. Martine Rothblatt
> Company: United Therapeutics (UTHR)
> Annual compensation: $35.9 million
> Company revenue: $1.7 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 203x
18. Robert A. Iger
> Company: Walt Disney (DIS)
> Annual compensation: $36.3 million
> Company revenue: $59.4 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
17. Ari Bousbib
> Company: IQVIA Holdings (IQV)
> Annual compensation: $37.5 million
> Company revenue: $9.7 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 388x
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16. Safra A. Catz
> Company: Oracle (ORCL)
> Annual compensation: $40.7 million
> Company revenue: $39.8 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
15. Mark V. Hurd
> Company: Oracle (ORCL)
> Annual compensation: $40.8 million
> Company revenue: $39.8 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
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14. John Donahoe
> Company: ServiceNow (NOW)
> Annual compensation: $41.5 million
> Company revenue: $1.9 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 250x
13. David M. Zaslav
> Company: Discovery Communications (DISCA)
> Annual compensation: $42.2 million
> Company revenue: $6.9 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 522x
12. Dirk Van de Put
> Company: Mondelez International (MDLZ)
> Annual compensation: $42.4 million
> Company revenue: $25.9 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 403x
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11. Brian Duperreault
> Company: American International Group (AIG)
> Annual compensation: $42.8 million
> Company revenue: $49.5 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 697x
10. Stephen Kaufer
> Company: TripAdvisor (TRIP)
> Annual compensation: $43.2 million
> Company revenue: $1.6 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 481x
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9. Ron Clarke
> Company: FleetCor Technologies (FLT)
> Annual compensation: $45.1 million
> Company revenue: $2.2 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 1,517x
8. Jeff Bewkes
> Company: Time Warner (TWX)
> Annual compensation: $49.0 million
> Company revenue: N/A
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 651x
7. Dexter Goei
> Company: Altice USA (ATUS)
> Annual compensation: $53.6 million
> Company revenue: $9.3 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
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6. W. Nicholas Howley
> Company: TransDigm Group (TDG)
> Annual compensation: $61.0 million
> Company revenue: $3.8 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
5. Gregory Maffei
> Company: Liberty Media & Qurate Retail Group (FWONA & QRTEA)
> Annual compensation: $67.2 million
> Company revenue: N/A
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
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4. Leslie Moonves
> Company: CBS (CBS)
> Annual compensation: $68.4 million
> Company revenue: $13.7 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 595x
3. Michael Rapino
> Company: Live Nation Entertainment (LYV)
> Annual compensation: $70.6 million
> Company revenue: $10.3 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 2,893x
2. Frank Bisignano
> Company: First Data (FDC)
> Annual compensation: $102.2 million
> Company revenue: $12.1 billion
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: 2,028x
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1. Hock E. Tan
> Company: Broadcom (AVGO)
> Annual compensation: $103.2 million
> Company revenue: N/A
> CEO pay vs. median employee salary: N/A
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