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Monday January 27, 2025

World leading companies CEOs draw whopping salaries

Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet follow closely behind

By News Report
January 16, 2025
Elon Musk CEO Tesla (left), Tim Cook CEO of Apple (cetre) and Sundar Pichai CEO of Alphabet. — Reuters/AFP/File
Elon Musk CEO Tesla (left), Tim Cook CEO of Apple (cetre) and Sundar Pichai CEO of Alphabet. — Reuters/AFP/File

NEW YORK: Elon Musk tops the list as the highest-paid CEO globally with $23.5 billion, primarily from Tesla’s stock options. Tim Cook of Apple and Sundar Pichai of Alphabet follow closely behind. CEOs lead their companies to great heights, combining visionary thinking with leadership skills, and receive remarkable compensation packages in return for their high performance and innovative contributions. Elon Musk has been the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and currently stands as the world’s best-paid CEO, with credit attributed to his revolutionary work concerning electric vehicles and space industries. The second placed is Tim Cook, who also serves as a CEO of the giant company of Apple. He has taken the company as one of the world’s highest-profitable ventures through innovative products. Alphabet is the parent company of Google, and this is headed by Sundar Pichai that ranks third position. The rank fourth position is Jensen Huang, Chief Executive Officer at NVIDIA, who affected the creation of GPUs and Artificial Intelligence technology within the industry.

The following list highlights the top 10 highest-paid CEOs globally, showcasing leadership across various sectors: Tesla CEO Elon Musk compensation package has been estimated at $23.5 billion, considering that the same comprises options of stock tied up with Tesla’s performance. Elon Musk oversees this company, especially due to its lead in the EV market and outstanding market performance during the last periods. Apple CEO Tim Cook, after taking the helm of the company, has led the company to newer heights since Steve Jobs left it back in 2011.

Under Cook, Apple became the first company to achieve a valuation of $2 trillion. His compensation package through stock grants and bonuses is a whopping $770.5 million, underlining him as the gigantic change within the profits and innovation of the company, especially in products like the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Alphabet (Google’s parent company) CEO Sundar Pichai has played a central role in Google’s global dominance, particularly in search, advertising, and cloud computing. Pichai’s salary is approximately $280 million, reflecting his leadership over one of the largest tech conglomerates in the world, driving products like Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud. Jensensen Huang is the chief executive officer of Nvidia corporation, which particularly designs graphics processing units for all markets in computer gaming and also to support artificial and professional applications of AI. When Hanson took up the chief executive position with Nvidia, his leadership began to experience a lot of growth, especially in AI. His $561 million remunerations are mostly in his stock options given the market-wide expansion of Nvidia and his personal role in catapulting the same on becoming the leader firm in AI.

Reed Hastings is the co-founder and the CEO of Netflix. The subscription-based service provided by Netflix has altered the orientation of the entertainment industry. With him as its guiding force, it has turned into a powerhouse media worldwide. His compensation amount to $453.5 million reinforces his leadership and the enormous influence of the company in digital distribution.

Leonard Schleifer is the chief executive of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company known for its innovative medicines. Stock options form a major part of his annual remuneration, as a testament to the success that Regeneron has had in developing breakthrough treatments for diseases like cancer and eye conditions. His $452.9 million reflects leadership in the healthcare sector and good financial performance. Marc Benioff is the CEO of Salesforce, a cloud-based software company that revolutionised customer relationship management (CRM). Benioff’s salary of $439.4 million reflects his leadership in expanding Salesforce’s global reach, acquiring major companies, and growing its services in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and business solutions. Satya Nadella is the CEO the highly successful Microsoft which evolved from software giant to cloud leader. His $309.4 million pay package symbolises the fruits of success brought about by him and his administration for Microsoft - through Azure services in the realm of cloud business, and increasing revenues in sectors like gaming as well as the productivity sector. Robert A Kotick is the CEO of Activision Blizzard, the leading video game company that owns the most popular franchises in the market, such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch. This compensation package at $296.7 million has stock options because of the successful performance of the company in the gaming market, as well as his role in expanding the company through acquisitions. Hock E. Tan is CEO of Broadcom, a semiconductor firm, providing various industries, like telecommunication, data centre, and consumer electronics, with its technology solutions. His $288 million compensation represents the successes he had brought for Broadcom during his leadership period especially through strategic acquisition and for shaping the market by leading innovations within the semiconductor business.