The typical chief executive compensation package rose nearly 6% in 2025 to $US17.7 million, as company boards rewarded their top executives for bigger profits and higher stock prices, and gave them incentives to stick around and make even more money for shareholders.
The median employee at companies in the S&P 500 earned $US89,744, reflecting a 4.7% increase year over year. While that gain outpaced the rate of inflation in 2025, many workers were still feeling pinched by the accumulation of higher prices over the past few years.
The Associated Press’s CEO compensation survey, which uses data analysed for by Equilar, included pay data for 337 executives at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two full consecutive fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between January 1 and April 30.
Overall, the median compensation for women CEOs in the survey fell -2.6% to $US18.1 million, compared to a 6.4% increase for their male counterparts to $US17.7 billion.
Here’s a look at some highlights from the survey.
At half the companies surveyed it would take the worker at the middle of the pay scale 200 years to make what the CEO did in one, up from 192 years in last year’s survey. Companies have been required to disclose this so-called pay ratio since 2018.
While the biggest gaps occur at companies where the CEO received compensation loaded with one-time awards of stock, the pay ratio also tends to be highest at companies in industries where wages are typically low. For instance, Coca-Cola’s CEO earned nearly 1,739 times the median pay of $US17,947 for its workers. The CEO at the retailer TJX Cos. makes about 1,774 times what a worker making the company’s median pay does.
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, received compensation valued at $US132.3 billion, all in the form of stock awards. To actually get the shares, Musk must meet ambitious targets over the next 10 years for the company’s market value and Tesla’s electric vehicles, as well as his futuristic goals of developing a fleet of robotaxis and an army of humanoid robots.Shankh Mitra of Welltower received the second-largest compensation package in the survey at $US821.1 million, the bulk of it in stock awards. Since October 2020, when he became CEO of the healthcare real estate investment trust, and October 2025, Welltower’s stock price tripled. Mitra can only receive the full compensation, beyond a $US110,000 annual salary, after a 10-year period.CEO Hock Tan’s pay package at Broadcom, valued at $US205.3 million, covers the years 2028-2030 — companies assign a value at the time the package is awarded — and is tied to Tan’s ability to greatly increase the revenue Broadcom generates from artificial intelligence, making it one of the few companies at this time to use AI as a benchmark in its compensation plans.David Zaslav was at the center of a takeover battle that ended with him selling Warner Bros. to Paramount Skydance for $US31 a share, up from $US12.54 before reports of Paramount’s interest in a deal came out. For negotiating the deal at a premium and also exceeding certain financial and strategic goals, Warner gave Zaslav a pay package valued at $US165 million, fourth largest in the survey. Since becoming CEO in 2007, Zaslav’s compensation has totalled $US1.1 billion, according to Equilar.Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon’s pay package totalled almost $US119 million — including stock valued at $US80 million he can receive after five years. Goldman’s board pointed to the 57% gain in the company’s shares, as well as a hefty increase in its earnings per share. Solomon also sold off the company’s Apple Card portfolio after an unsuccessful effort to expand Goldman’s consumer-focused business.Jane Fraser of Citigroup received a pay package valued at $US95.8 million — tops among the 27 women CEOs in this year’s survey and the highest-ever for a woman CEO in the survey’s history. Fraser received a one-time award valued at $US25 million in restricted stock and options after being elected Citi’s chairman. She also got a one-time award for overseeing a wholesale reorganization of Citi into a leaner company, including laying off thousands of workers.Wells Fargo gave CEO Charles Scharf a pay package worth $US94.5 million after his yearslong effort to lead the bank back from a scandal involving fake bank accounts that landed Wells under federal supervision. In his last year as CEO of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett received compensation worth $US389,488 — down 4% from the year prior.Jensen Huang of Nvidia, the most valuable publicly traded company, got a pay package valued at $US36.3 million. (He didn’t make the AP survey because Nvidia filed its proxy after April 30).Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s compensation was valued at $US25.1 million and almost all of it involved costs for the company to provide security for him and his family, as well as the use of corporate aircraft.
– Reporting from AP