The average CEO among the biggest companies in the U.S. made $12.1 million in 2017, according to a new analysis by The Wall Street Journal. But the highest-paid person with that title brought in a whopping $103.2 million.
That’s Hock Tan, the head of Broadcom, a global supplier of semiconductor technologies. The company saw its returns to shareholders increase 58% in the past year, while Tan’s salary jumped an astounding 318%, from $24.7 million in 2016.
Generally, executives got a pay boost over the last year. The median income for CEOs of S&P 500 companies reached a new post-recession high, driven by soaring profits and stock prices. Most of that group saw raises of 9.7% or higher, according to the Journal.
Tan’s nine-figure salary is still a bit of an outlier, with the second-highest-paid CEO, Les Moonves of CBS, coming out at $69.3 million in 2017. CEOs at pharmaceutical, media, technology and financial firms pervaded the upper echelon of earnings, taking 16 of the 25 top spots in the Journal’s ranking.
The $103.2 million breakdown
While Tan’s base, cash salary of $1.1 million in 2017 is deceptively low, the lion’s share of his money came from shares that Broadcom awarded to Tan, which held a value of $98.3 million, according to regulatory filings. Tan also took home a performance bonus of $3.7 million for exceeding revenue and operating margin targets. And his windfall includes $23,234 in travel expenses, $16,200 in 401(k) employer matching contribution, and $36,386 for car service.
http://amp.timeinc.net/time/money/5273603/highest-paid-ceo-america-hock-tan