From Malaysian-born Hock E. Tan to Apple’s Tim Cook, these are the highest paid CEOs in the world, as well as their net worths.
The higher you climb, the better the view. This sentiment rings true for thrill seekers and mountain climbers — likewise, for top CEOs, and in particular, the occupants of this list of the highest paid CEOs in the world. From Apple’s Tim Cook to Malaysian-born Hock E. Tan, here are some of the highest paid CEOs in the world in 2024, how they rose to the top, and what their jobs entail.
While multi-billionaires the likes of LVMH group CEO Bernard Arnault and Tesla CEO Elon Musk can boast to be the richest men in the world, they do not rank on this list of the highest paid CEOs. This is certainly an interesting distinction to make, considering their vast fortunes. Yet, like their billionaire contemporaries Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg, who hold CEO positions within their own companies, Arnault and Musk both take home fairly modest salaries.
Arnault pockets a mere EUR 8.01 million (approx. USD 8.6 million) yearly for his CEO salary, including bonuses, stock options, and benefits. While it is certainly nothing to sneeze at, the figure barely compares to that of the CEOs on this list; yet, Arnault’s net worth dwarves that of its leading man by tens of billions.
Equally low on the pay scale of company heads are Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who has earned a steady USD 100,000 per annum for over 35 years, and Elon Musk, whose 2023 salary as CEO of Tesla was listed as zero dollars. And that’s not all. Mark Zuckerberg’s salary as CEO of Facebook in 2023 amounted to a total of USD 1; however, Zuck also received a payout of USD 24.4 million in ‘other compensations’.
To wit: A CEO’s salary can be and has proven to be misleading of their true wealth and net worth. With stock ownership, investments, and other sources of passive income readily available to the creme de la creme of high society, it makes sense that an annual salary counts for very little in the grand scheme of things.
Tracking CEO salaries across the years
Despite the disparity between the salaries of the highest paid CEOs and personal net worths of the world’s richest billionaires, one thing remains true: A garden-variety CEO is not a pauper by any means. According to a 2022 report by the Economic Policy Institute, the annual salary of CEOs has soared 1,460 percent since 1978, with CEOs earning 399 times more than typical salary earners as of 2021.
The growth of CEO salaries has outpaced that of the S&P stock market, which grew 1,063 percent; it also outpaced the salary growth of the top 0.1 percent, which saw an increase of 385 percent from 1978 to 2020.
Another report conducted by Equilar, a leading provider of executive intelligence that provides insights on executive compensation, supplied additional context to the conversation. In Equilar’s 2023 CEO Pay Trends Report, it was discovered that compensation for Equilar 500 CEOs declined by 1.3 percent in 2022 and dipped to USD 14 million at the median. This figure comes after 2021’s high, in which median compensation increased by 18.4 percent owing to companies rewarding their CEOs for the daunting task of navigating through the harrowing pandemic days.
Nvidia and Lucid CEOs earned hundreds of millions more than the competitors ranked just below them, as reported in this year’s Automotive News/Equilar CEO Compensation Survey. Read more in this issue by @ByPaigeHodder in @Automotive_News. #CEOPay #ExecComp https://t.co/N3mo1xTbdv
— Equilar Inc. (@equilarinc) September 8, 2023
The Equilar report also found that the median value of annual CEO bonuses decreased by 5.7 percent in 2022 (from USD 3 million to USD 2.8 million), credited to businesses becoming less willing to pay premium cash bonuses in a bare market. However, the same study also marked an increase in median salaries, stock, and other compensation including benefits and perquisites, with stock awards jumping in value from 7.6 percent to USD 7.7 million.
Additionally, the report also addressed the Pay vs Performance debate, with findings suggesting the prevalence of performance-based rewards. A startling 90.2 percent of Equilar 500 CEO packages incorporated performance-based equity, an increase from 2021’s 87.1 percent and 2018’s 82.1 percent. The report also found that CEOs in the communication services were awarded the largest packages in 2022 for USD 21.7 million at the medium, followed by CEOs in the technology sector (USD 17.9 million) and CEOs in the healthcare sector (USD 17.1 million).
These findings support the climate surrounding CEO salaries today, with several of the highest paid CEOs in the world occupying roles in the communications and technology sectors. Other sectors that have since emerged include finance, investments, and the fintech sectors, all of which are represented on this list. Interestingly, these same sectors also top the charts for highest paying internship jobs, reflecting global trends and increasing demands for fresh talent.
The highest paid CEOs in the world
Satya Nadella
Company: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 48,512,537
The current executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, 56-year-old Satya Narayana Nadella earned a salary of USD 48,512,537 last year, placing him in this list of the highest paid CEOs in the world. Born to a Telugu Hindu family in Hyderabad on August 19 1967, Nadella’s childhood was fraught with the unremarkable trials of the middle class.
Speaking to LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, Nadella recalled his childhood years, sharing on how his parents ‘played a massive role’ in who he is today. “My father was a civil servant, an economist, and my mother was a Sanskrit professor. They were exact opposites of each other in some sense, they could not agree on anything, except giving me lots of room and a lot of confidence to become my own person, pursue my own passions,” He said.
While studying eluded his interest, Nadella was fond of playing cricket. What strikes out in the haze of memory, however, is the very first time he used a computer. “It was the malleability of software that got me hooked,” He added. Inspired by his love of American technology, Nadella attended the Manipal Institute of Technology in 1988, from where he received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. Afterwards, he made his way over to the United States, where he received an MS in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1990.
After graduating, Nadella joined Sun Microsystems as part of its technology staff; however, he would soon move to Microsoft in 1992, where he led numerous projects, championing the company’s move to cloud computing and spearheading the development of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world. In this time, Nadella also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, further strengthening his already-stellar resume.
While Nadella currently holds the position of CEO at Microsoft (the third following the tenures of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer), his long collaboration with the tech giant has been the journey of decades. He has served as President of the Server & Tools Division, Senior Vice-president of Research and Development for the Online Services Division, Vice-president of the Business Division, Corporate Vice-president of Business Solutions and Search & Advertising Platform Group, and Executive Vice-president of Cloud and Enterprise group, marking incredible milestones across a celebrated career. To date, he is worth an estimated USD 974 million, though reports have suggested that the actual figure is even higher.
Hamid R. Moghadam
Company: Prologis, Inc. (PLD)
Sector: Real Estate and Strategic Capital
Annual salary: USD 50,891,597
One of the highest paid CEOs in the world, Iranian-American business executive Hamid R. Moghadam took home USD 50,891,597 for his role as Chief Executive Officer of Prologis, Inc. in 2023. Born in 1956, Moghadam was raised in Tehran, where his father worked as a businessman; at age 13, he was sent to Switzerland to pursue an education, and later attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s of science degree in engineering. Moghadam went on to attend the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he received his MBA.
Displaying his Midas touch for business, Moghadam first began his career at Homestake Mining Company, but later joined John McMahan Associates. Eventually, he founded Abbey, Moghadam & Company with Douglas Abbey, with plans to provide investment advisory services; however, the duo ended up earning a reputation for ‘helping investors revive underperforming assets’ instead.
Leaning into their newfound expertise, the duo brought in T. Robert Burke in 1984 and established AMB Institutional Realty Advisors (later AMB Property Corp). Through the company, the trio made investments in office, industrial, and community shopping centres; however, by 1987, the company had begun to exit the office market, opting instead for industrial parks and shopping centres in infill trade areas.
At the height of its success in 1999, AMB was the second largest industrially focused real estate investment trust in the United States, boasting a total market capitalisation of USD 3.5 billion. In 2011, Moghadam navigated the merger of AMB and ProLogis to create Prologis, the largest logistics real estate company in the world. According to his LinkedIn profile, Moghadam has served as CEO and Chairman of Prologis for 41 years. Reports suggest that his current net worth is estimated to be USD 220 million.
Jagtar Singh Chaudhry
Company: Zscaler, Inc. (ZS)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 57,775,483
Taking home an annual salary of USD 57,775,483 in 2023, Jagtar Singh Chaudhry’s life is a stirring tale that highlights the importance of resilience and hard work. Born in the village of Panoh in India (Population: 800), Chaudhry spent life up until his teenage years with no running water or electricity. His parents, who were small-scale farmers, had three children of which Chaudhry is the youngest.
Speaking on his childhood, Chaudhry shared that he often studied beneath a tree outdoors and walked 4 kilometres every day to attend high school in the neighbouring village of Dhusara. His devotion to education paid dividends; upon graduating from high school, Chaudhry earned a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering from the Indian Institute Of Technology, Banaras Hindu University.
At age 22, Chaudhry took the leap (and his first flight) to the United States, where he attended the University of Cincinnati to pursue a master’s degree in industrial engineering, computer engineering, and marketing. He also attended Harvard Business School, where he completed the executive management program.
While Chaudhry has worked in engineering, sales, marketing, and management at IBM, Unisys, and NCR, his true path lay in entrepreneurship. To date, he has founded five successful technology startups: SecureIT (acquired by Verisign in 1998), CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing Corporation in 2006 for USD 274 million), CoreHarbor (acquired by USi/AT&T), AirDefense (acquired by Motorola in 2008), and ZScaler, Inc., where he has worked since its inception in 2007. As of 2024, Chaudhry’s net worth is estimated to be USD 4.6 billion.
Timothy D. Cook
Company: Apple Inc. (AAPL)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 63,209,845
Successor to the iconic Steve Jobs, Tim Cook has had to fill very large shoes in his time as CEO of Apple Inc. First appointed to the role of CEO in August of 2011, Cook had once served as Chief Operating Officer under Jobs, a role he assumed in 2009. However, Cook’s journey in Apple began as early as 1998, when he joined the company at Jobs’ behest as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations. Having earned an annual salary of USD 63,209,845 in 2023, Cook now finds himself among the highest paid CEOs of the world.
Born in Mobile, Alabama to a working-class family, Cook’s rise to fortune has been nothing short of meteoric. His mother had worked in a pharmacy, while his father worked in the shipyards; reportedly, the family lacked the means to purchase a new typewriter while Cook was growing up. Eventually, Cook found his way to Auburn University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in industrial engineering in 1982. Upon graduation, Cook joined IBM’s personal computer business, where he spent 12 years; during this time, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Duke University, becoming a Fuqua Scholar in 1988.
Before assuming his role at Apple, Cook lent his expertise to Intelligent Electronics, where he served as Chief Operating Officer of the computer reseller division. He later joined Compaq as Vice President for Corporate Materials but left the role six months later to work with Jobs at Apple. Today, Cook is worth an estimated USD 2.1 billion.
William J. Lansing
Company: Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 66,349,962
Having helmed eight different companies, William Lansing is the current CEO of Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO), a data analytics company based in Bozeman, Montana focusing on credit scoring services. With a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, Lansing’s experience has served him across numerous roles in high-profile companies.
Lansing’s track record for excellence shows in his impressive resume. To date, he has served as CEO and president of InfoSpace, CEO and President of ValueVision Media, CEO of NBC Internet, and CEO of direct marketing company Fingerhut among others. His work experience also includes roles as Vice President of Business Development at General Electric, Chief Operations Officer and Executive Vice President at Prodigy Services, Inc., and Principal at McKinsey & Company.
Understandably, Lansing has amassed a staggering net worth of USD 421 million as of 2024, and last year, took home USD 66,349,962 for his role as CEO of FICO. His salary also included USD 30 million with a five-year vesting period that is tied to his continued leadership within the company.
Christopher L. Winfrey
Company: Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR)
Sector: Telecom Services / Communication Services
Annual salary: USD 89,077,078
The CEO of Charter Communications Inc., Christopher Winfrey earned his place among the highest paid CEOs of the world with a staggering salary of USD 89 million in 2023. While Winfrey has only just completed his first year as CEO of Charter, his journey with the multi-billion business began in 2010, when he first joined as Chief Financial Officer. As per his employee page on the Charter website, Winfrey’s role as CFO put him in charge of the business’ accounting, financial planning and analysis, procurement, real estate, tax and treasury functions, mergers and acquisitions, capital structure activities, and investor relations.
While serving as CFO of Charter in 2022, Winfrey received a compensation package of USD 15.6 million — a mere 17 percent of his 2023 salary. However, Winfrey’s base salary for 2023 is listed as USD 1.7 million, up USD 350,000 from the USD 1.35 million he received in 2022. As per The Hollywood Reporter, it was revealed that the bulk of Winfrey’s pay was in option awards amounting to USD 75 million.
A graduate of the University of Florida with an MBA and B.S. in Accounting, Winfrey has headed numerous prominent businesses in leadership positions. Most notably, he has served as Chief Financial Officer at Unitymedia GmbH, Senior Vice President for Corporate Finance and Development at Cablecom GmbH, and Managing Director at Vodafone Management GmbH, among others. With more than 25 years in the cable industry, Winfrey has more than proven his mettle, and in 2015 received The Internet & Television Association’s (NCTA) Vanguard Award for Young Leadership. To date, he boasts a net worth of USD 53 million.
Stephen Schwarzman
Company: Blackstone Inc. (BX)
Sector: Financial Services
Annual salary: USD 119.78 million
With a salary of USD 119.78 in 2023, 77-year-old billionaire Stephan Schwarzman comes in fourth on our list of the highest-earning CEOs in the world. As the current CEO and chairman of global private equity firm Blackstone Group, Schwarzman boasts a net worth of USD 37.8 billion, putting him solidly among the world’s top one percent.
Born to a Jewish family in Pennsylvania, Schwarzman’s first foray into business came at the tender age of 14, when he founded a lawn-mowing business; Schwarzman employed his younger twin brothers to mow the lawns, while he took it upon himself to procure clients. A Yale University alumnus, Schwarzman briefly served in the U.S. Army Reserve before enrolling in Harvard Business School, from where he graduated in 1972.
Schwarzman would go on to work at investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (which merged with Credit Suisse in 2000), as well as in Lehman Brothers, where he ascended into the role of managing director aged 31. By the time 1985 had rolled around, Schwarzman had founded The Blackstone Group with his boss, Peter Peterson; today, Blackstone manages over USD 1 trillion in assets, boasting market capitalisation numbers around USD 154.41 billion.
Sue Y. Nabi
Company: Coty Inc. (COTY)
Sector: Prestige and Consumer Beauty
Annual salary: USD 149.43 million
Taking home a CEO salary of USD 149.43 million in 2023, Sue Y. Nabi comes in third on the list of the highest paid CEOs in the world. As Chief Executive Office of American multinational beauty company Coty Inc., the Algerian-born French entrepreneur oversees Coty’s extensive portfolio of brands. Notably, Coty’s portfolio includes cult-favourites like Kylie Cosmetics, Gucci, Chloé, Burberry, Hugo Boss, David Beckham, Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs, Roberto Cavalli, and more.
Nabi spent her childhood in Algeria, and eventually followed in her engineer father’s footsteps by earning a degree in engineering from the École nationale du génie de l’eau et de l’environnement de Strasbourg (ENGEES). She then earned an advanced master’s degree in marketing management from the ESSEC Business School in 1991, before joining L’Oreal as a Retail Sales Representative in 1993.
By 2000, Nabi had been promoted to General Manager of L’Oreal France; five years later, she had been named the Worldwide President of L’Oréal Paris. In her time at L’Oreal, Nabi revolutionised the brand’s marketing strategies, refreshing the brand’s image by incorporating the highly lauded series of ‘Because We’re Worth It’ testimonials. Nabi was also a firm believer in diversity, spearheading campaigns that celebrated a diverse range of personalities that included Jane Fonda, Penélope Cruz, Eva Longoria, Gong Li, Matthew Fox, and Patrick Dempsey.
A charming renegade, Nabi was eventually appointed as Worldwide President of Lancôme in 2009; however, she would eventually resign her roles at both Lancôme and L’Oreal in 2013, moving away from Paris to London where she founded her vegan skincare line Orveda. In July 2020, Nabi was named CEO of Coty Inc. Today, she boasts an estimated net worth of USD 373 million.
Nikesh Arora
Company: Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (PANW)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 151.43 million
Born to a middle-class family, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora comes in second on this list of the highest paid CEOs in the world with a salary of USD 151.43 million in 2023. Of Indian descent, Arora, whose father was an India Air Force officer, studied at The Air Force School (Subroto Park). In 1989, he graduated from the Varanasi-based Indian Institute of Technology, BHU with a Bachelor of Technology degree in electrical engineering. Arora would eventually go on to earn an M.S. degree in Finance from Boston College and an M.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University.
While Arora has remained in his role at Palo Alto Networks for six years now, his colourful resume includes senior operating leadership roles at T-Mobile, Google, SoftBank Corp., and Fidelity Investments. As of 2024, Arora’s net worth is estimated to be USD 1.5 billion.
Tan Hock Eng (Hock E. Tan)
Company: Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
Sector: Technology
Annual salary: USD 161.83 million
Named the highest paid CEO in the world for 2023, Malaysian-born businessman Tan Hock Eng is the CEO of Broadcom Inc., a role he has held since 2006. Born in the island state of Penang, the 71-year-old attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1971 on scholarship, as his parents could not afford to send him to university. With great determination and hard work, he graduated in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Later that year, he earned a master’s degree in the same subject, and a few years later, earned an MBA from Harvard University to round off his ivy-league education.
Over the course of his long and storied career, Tan has headed numerous billion-dollar companies including Malaysia’s Hume Industries, Finance of Commodore International Ltd., and Integrated Circuit Systems Inc. He has also held financial positions in world renowned American brands General Motors Co and PepsiCo. Tan also sits on the board of directors of Meta, a position he assumed just this year in February.
This is not the first time that Tan has earned the honour of being the highest paid CEO in the world. Considering his exemplary career, it comes as no surprise; Tan was named the highest paid CEO of 2017 when he was paid an annual salary of USD 103.2 million. He has an estimated net worth of USD 1.39 billion.
(Main and featured images: ACC District/Flickr, Palo Alto Networks)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Who is the best CEO in the world?
The best CEOs in the world as named by The CEO Magazine include Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Marc Benioff of Salesforce. Most recently, CEOWORLD magazine has published a list of its most influential CEOs, and it is topped by Chairman and CEO of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan.
– What CEOs take $1 salary?
Some CEOs who have opted to take USD 1 in salary include: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page, among others.
– Which CEO is the richest?
Bernard Arnault, who is the CEO of LVMH Group, as well as Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, both consistently duke it out for the title of richest man in the world. They are accompanied by Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg, both of whom are CEOs who also register ultra high net worths.
