Introduction
Executive compensation at large U.S. companies reached record levels in 2025, with stock awards and other equity-based incentives accounting for much of the largest packages. Elon Musk ranked first with a reported $132.3 billion package at Tesla, far exceeding the compensation awarded to every other CEO in the ranking.
The next-largest packages were awarded to Dylan Field of Figma at $864 million, Shankh Mitra of Welltower at $821 million and Kasra Nejatian of Opendoor at $741 million. The figures come from the Equilar 100 analysis conducted with The New York Times, which examines CEO compensation at U.S.-based or listed companies with more than $1 billion in revenue that filed proxy statements by April 30, 2026. Equilar
The numbers require an important qualification. CEO “total compensation” is not equivalent to cash salary. It can include salary, bonuses, stock and option awards valued at grant date, benefits and other compensation. For Musk in particular, the $132.3 billion figure represents the reported value of a long-term Tesla performance award and is contingent on demanding future market-capitalization and operational targets. Equilar
What CEO Compensation Includes
CEO pay packages typically contain several components:
- Base salary
- Annual cash incentives
- Long-term stock awards
- Stock options
- Performance-based equity
- Benefits and other compensation
For the Equilar 100, stock and option awards are valued at the time they are granted rather than treated as cash immediately received by the executive. The methodology also excludes changes in pension values and above-market earnings on deferred compensation. Equilar
This distinction is particularly important for the highest-ranked executives because equity can make up the overwhelming majority of a reported compensation package.
Top 20 Highest-Paid CEOs in America in 2025
| Rank | CEO | Company | Total Compensation / Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | Tesla | $132.3B |
| 2 | Dylan Field | Figma | $864M |
| 3 | Shankh Mitra | Welltower | $821M |
| 4 | Kasra Nejatian | Opendoor | $741M |
| 5 | RJ Scaringe | Rivian | $403M |
| 6 | Niraj Shah | Wayfair | $281M |
| 7 | Hock Tan | Broadcom | $205M |
| 8 | David Zaslav | Warner Bros. Discovery | $165M |
| 9 | David Solomon | Goldman Sachs | $119M |
| 10 | Nikesh Arora | Palo Alto Networks | $100M |
| 11 | Christopher R. Britt | Chime Financial | $99M |
| 12 | Satya Nadella | Microsoft | $96M |
| 13 | Jane Fraser | Citigroup | $96M |
| 14 | Charles W. Scharf | Wells Fargo | $95M |
| 15 | Lip-Bu Tan | Intel | $93M |
| 16 | Robin A. Vince | BNY Mellon | $83M |
| 17 | Mark D. McClain | SailPoint | $80M |
| 18 | Marc N. Casper | Thermo Fisher Scientific | $80M |
| 19 | Ajei S. Gopal | Procore Technologies | $77M |
| 20 | Tim Cook | Apple | $74M |
Source: Equilar/New York Times 2026 CEO compensation study, covering compensation awarded in 2025. Amounts above are presented in the supplied dataset’s rounded format. Equilar’s published figures provide the underlying detailed values. Equilar
Elon Musk’s $132.3 Billion Package Is Unlike a Conventional Salary
Musk’s position at the top of the ranking is driven by the structure of his Tesla compensation rather than an annual cash salary of $132.3 billion.
Equilar reports the Tesla award at $132,298,849,867. The package consists entirely of a long-term stock award tied to market-capitalization and operational milestones. Equilar
The award is therefore contingent. Tesla’s targets include significant increases in market capitalization as well as operational milestones involving vehicle deliveries, Full Self-Driving subscriptions, robots, robotaxis and adjusted EBITDA. The award’s eventual economic value depends on the achievement of those conditions and Tesla’s future share price. Equilar
This makes the $132.3 billion figure fundamentally different from ordinary salary or cash compensation.
Equity Awards Were the Main Driver of Record CEO Pay
Equity compensation was a major factor behind the increase in executive pay in 2025.
Equilar reported that the median compensation for the 100 CEOs in its study reached $39.4 million, an increase of 35.8% from the previous year. The median value of stock awards rose 44.6% to $28.4 million. Equilar
By comparison, overall cash compensation—including salary, bonuses and perks—increased 3.6% to $6.1 million. Median base salary remained at $1.3 million, while median cash bonuses declined 5.4% to $3.4 million. Equilar
The figures show why headline CEO compensation can rise dramatically even when cash salaries change relatively little.
Nine of the Top 10 Received Nine-Figure Packages
The concentration of very large compensation awards was unusually high.
According to Equilar, nine of the top 10 executives received packages of at least $100 million in 2025. Musk’s award was an extreme outlier, but the next four executives also received packages exceeding $400 million. Equilar
Dylan Field’s $864 million package at Figma ranked second. Shankh Mitra received $821 million at Welltower, while Kasra Nejatian received $741 million at Opendoor. Rivian’s RJ Scaringe ranked fifth at $403 million.
These packages demonstrate that the highest levels of CEO compensation were not limited to the largest technology companies.
Technology, Finance and Healthcare Appear Across the Ranking
The 20 executives represent a broad range of industries.
Technology-related companies include Figma, Broadcom, Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft, Intel, SailPoint and Procore Technologies. Financial institutions include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and BNY Mellon.
Healthcare and life sciences are represented by Welltower and Thermo Fisher Scientific, while consumer and industrial companies include Wayfair, Rivian, Apple and Tesla.
The diversity of industries indicates that extraordinary CEO compensation was associated with a range of corporate sectors rather than one industry alone.
The Pay Gap Also Widened
The increase in executive compensation occurred alongside a widening CEO-to-employee pay ratio among companies in the Equilar 100.
Equilar reported that the median CEO pay ratio reached 475:1 in 2025, compared with 348:1 in the previous year. The median employee at companies in the study earned $101,322. Equilar
Such comparisons require some caution because CEO compensation frequently contains large equity awards while employee compensation is generally measured through a different combination of wages and benefits. Nevertheless, the widening ratio remains a significant corporate-governance and compensation issue.
Jane Fraser Led the Female CEO Ranking
Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, ranked 13th overall in the supplied top-20 list with $96 million in total compensation.
Equilar’s broader study reported that only four women appeared among the 100 highest-paid CEOs in 2025, down from eight the previous year. Fraser had the highest compensation among those women at $95.8 million, according to Equilar’s detailed figure. Equilar
Equilar also reported that median compensation for the four female executives was $42.5 million, or 7.9% above the overall Equilar 100 median. Equilar
Why CEO Compensation Can Reach Such High Levels
The structure of executive pay is intended, in many cases, to link a portion of compensation to corporate performance.
Long-term equity awards can tie executive wealth to share-price performance, revenue targets, earnings objectives or other operational milestones. Companies may use these arrangements to retain senior executives and align their financial interests with shareholders.
However, the relationship between compensation and corporate performance is not straightforward. Share prices can be influenced by broad market conditions, interest rates, industry trends and factors outside a CEO’s direct control.
A large equity award can therefore have a very different realized value from its initial grant-date valuation.
Risks and Limitations of CEO Pay Rankings
The ranking should not be interpreted as a list of annual cash salaries.
The most significant limitation is the treatment of equity. A stock award can be assigned a large grant-date value even though the executive cannot immediately realize that amount in cash. Some awards are also conditional on future performance or vesting requirements.
The $132.3 billion figure for Musk is the clearest example. Equilar describes it as a long-term stock award tied to ambitious targets, rather than cash compensation received during 2025. Equilar
Comparisons can also be affected by the composition of the companies included in the study. The Equilar 100 covers U.S.-based or listed companies with more than $1 billion in revenue that filed proxy statements by April 30, 2026. It is not a census of every CEO working in America. Equilar
How 2025 CEO Pay Compares With Broader Executive Compensation
The scale of the largest awards becomes clearer when compared with the wider CEO population.
Equilar’s separate S&P 500 study found that median S&P 500 CEO compensation was $17.7 million in 2025, while the median compensation among the 100 highest-paid CEOs in the broader Equilar/New York Times study was $39.4 million. Equilar
The difference reflects the concentration of very large equity awards among the highest-paid executives.
It also means that the top 20 should not be treated as representative of CEO compensation across corporate America.
Future Outlook for Executive Compensation
Equity-based compensation is likely to remain central to executive pay because companies use long-term awards to connect leadership incentives with corporate performance.
The structure of those awards can change as boards respond to shareholder votes, corporate governance standards, tax considerations and changing business conditions.
Artificial intelligence and other technology shifts may also affect compensation structures. Equilar has noted that several 2025 compensation plans incorporated targets connected to AI-related products and business performance. Equilar
Future rankings will therefore depend not only on salaries and annual bonuses but also on how companies design, value and ultimately vest long-term equity awards.
Conclusion
The 2025 CEO compensation rankings show an increasingly equity-driven executive pay structure at large U.S. companies. Elon Musk’s $132.3 billion Tesla award was an extreme outlier, while Dylan Field, Shankh Mitra and Kasra Nejatian received packages of $864 million, $821 million and $741 million, respectively.
Nine of the top 10 executives received at least $100 million in reported compensation, while the median compensation for the broader Equilar 100 reached $39.4 million, up 35.8% from the previous year. Equilar
The figures should be read as total compensation awarded, not cash salaries. Stock and option awards, particularly those tied to long-term performance, account for much of the difference between headline compensation figures and the amount an executive actually receives in cash during a given year.
