No surprise: It pays to climb your way to the top of the org chart.
The highest-paid CEOs in the US aren't necessarily household names, but they're enjoying some pretty sweet pay packages — more than enough to avoid worries about higher prices for that morning coffee.
Take Hock Tan, head of chipmaker Broadcom. The value of his pay package was $161.8 million in 2023. Tan topped a list of the 100 highest-paid chiefs from Equilar, which analyzes data on executive compensation.
But though many compensation numbers are big, it's not all cash. Amit Batish, senior director of content and communications at Equilar, told Business Insider that much of the top dogs' hauls come through stock awards.
"That's kind of the bread and butter of executive compensation these days," he said.
To get the payouts, CEOs often have to achieve targets such as stock price thresholds.
About halfway through this year's proxy season, the median compensation package for CEOs on Equilar's list — comprised of companies with revenue of $1 billion or more — was valued at a cool $23.7 million in 2023, a jump of 11.4% from the prior year. The data were based on proxy statements filed through March 31.
The jump in compensation was stronger than the 7.7% increase CEOs overall saw at this point last year, according to Equilar data.
There are still some high-wattage chiefs a bit farther down the list, like Apple's Tim Cook, who comes in at No. 6 with compensation valued at $63.2 million, or Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, at No. 9 with total comp valued at $48.5 million. But they haven't yet made it to the very top yet, according to Equilar.
Here are some of the highest-paid — and highest-profile — CEOs.