S&P 500 CEO Pay
Typical S&P 500 CEO total pay now runs in the low tens of millions, with salary itself only 1 to 2 million and equity the rest.
Overview
Median realized packages sit around 14 to 16 million, dominated by stock vesting, with annual bonuses on earnings metrics and multi-year performance shares layered on. Clawbacks exist but bite rarely, and research finds the link between pay and firm performance surprisingly weak at the extremes. A decade of rising markets lifted all boats mechanically, since boards benchmark against peer percentiles in a ratchet everyone can see. Figures are approximate from compensation-data trackers.
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