CEO Pay: The $25 Million Plus Pay Club (2026)

In May 2026, Welltower Inc (WELL) handed Shankh Mitra the largest pay package on this list — $821.1M — after a year in which the stock rose 40%. Shareholders rejected it anyway: only 19% backed the company’s Say-on-Pay vote, among the most lopsided repudiations of a sitting CEO’s pay on record.

Months earlier, the verdict had run the other way on a far larger number. At Tesla Inc (TSLA)’s November 2025 meeting, shareholders approved a new award for Elon Musk worth as much as $878 billion — roughly $1 trillion if every milestone is met, the largest grant in corporate history — with about 75% support. Same season, opposite result: investors spurned the biggest package on this ranking and blessed one in a different universe of size.

That split is the year’s real lesson, and it is not about size. The fiscal-2025 club reached 207 U.S. public-company CEOs paid $25 million or more, up from 153, at a $33.3M median, with 14 one-time mega-grants stacked at the top. Investors pushed 27 of those packages below 70% support and failed 8 outright. What the revolts share is neither a dollar figure nor a stock chart — it is surprise.

The $25M club at a glanceFiscal 2025 pay · as of May 29, 2026
CEOs at $25M+
207
up from 153 (+54) in FY2024
Median package
$33.3M
average $54.6M
One-time mega-grants
14
near-all-equity, booked in one year
Say-on-Pay revolts
27
8 failed outright (<50%)

What Shareholders Actually Punish

 

The instinct is to read these revolts as a backlash against big pay. The data says otherwise. The largest grants of the cycle sailed through: Tesla’s holders approved Musk’s award with about 75% support, Opendoor Technologies Inc (OPEN) cleared Kaz Nejatian’s $741.1M with 97%, and Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN) backed Robert Scaringe’s $402.6M with 92%. Size, plainly, is not the trigger.

Neither is performance. Seven of the eight packages that failed outright belonged to CEOs whose stock rose over the year — Welltower (+40%), Snowflake (+16%), Thermo Fisher (+21%), Warner Bros. Discovery (+183%), Element Solutions (+92%), Palo Alto Networks (+38%) and IQVIA (+29%). Meanwhile Comcast Corp (CMCSA) fell 20% on the year and still drew 90% support; underperformance, on its own, did not provoke a revolt.

What the rejections share is surprise. They cluster on first-time or unexpected mega-grants at companies whose shareholder base wasn’t conditioned for them — a healthcare REIT suddenly writing a nine-figure check, a software firm front-loading a multi-year award. Musk’s package, however enormous, was negotiated in the open and tied to hard milestones a base of holders had pre-committed to. The line shareholders draw is about process and expectation, not the number at the end.

The One-Time Mega-Grants

14 CEOs whose fiscal-2025 package was almost entirely a one-time equity award.

Fourteen of the packages here are one-time mega-grants — founder, IPO, or multi-year awards that SEC rules record at grant-date value in the single year they are granted. An award meant to vest over a decade lands as one giant number, which is how a $25M-club ranking ends up topped by pay that isn’t annual at all. They are broken out here so they don’t distort the recurring-pay picture that follows.

Welltower Inc (WELL) at $821.1M and Opendoor Technologies Inc (OPEN) at $741.1M set the scale.

Company CEO FY2025 total Salary % FY2024 1-yr TSR Tenure
Welltower Inc (WELL) Shankh Mitra $821.1M 0.2% $20.2M +40% 6y
Opendoor Technologies Inc (OPEN) Kaz Nejatian $741.1M     +638% 1y
Rivian Automotive Inc (RIVN) Robert J Scaringe $402.6M 0.3% $14.9M -1% 5y
Wayfair Inc (W) Niraj Shah $280.8M 0.0% $283K +77% 24y
Summit Therapeutics Inc (SMMT) Maky Zanganeh $246.0M 0.3% $1.2M -32% 4y
Broadcom Inc (AVGO) Hock E Tan $205.3M 0.6% $2.6M +82% 20y
Veeva Systems Inc (VEEV) Peter P Gassner $172.4M 0.3% $421K -31% 19y
Rubrik Inc (RBRK) Bipul Sinha $140.0M 0.3% $620K -26% 12y
Snowflake Inc (SNOW) Sridhar Ramaswamy $101.3M 0.7%   +16% 2y
Intel Corp (INTC) Lip Bu Tan $93.0M 0.8%   +488% 1y
Ionq Inc (IONQ) Niccolo De Masi $89.6M 0.6%   +46% 1y
Hamilton Lane Inc (HLNE) Erik R Hirsch $80.2M 0.4% $3.9M -49% 2y
Hamilton Lane Inc (HLNE) Juan Delgado-Moreira $79.0M 0.4% $2.9M -49% 2y
Procore Technologies Inc (PCOR) Ajei Gopal $77.4M 0.3%   -30% 1y

Where the $25M Pay Concentrates

By sector: block area = total reported compensation; shade = median package (darker = higher).

Big pay tracks big companies: Technology and Financial Services hold the most $25M+ CEOs and the most total compensation — the two largest blocks. Real Estate’s outsized block is the exception, and a caution about reading totals: it is almost entirely two grants — Welltower’s $821.1M and Opendoor’s $741.1M — not a high-paying sector. Read the shade instead and the picture flattens: sector medians cluster in the low-to-mid $30 millions almost everywhere, from health care to industrials. What puts a CEO in this club is running a large company, not the industry they run it in.

Median package$27.3M
 
$38.5M
Technology
50 CEOs · $2.51B
median $35.8M
Financial Services
49 CEOs · $2.38B
median $35.4M
Real Estate
5 CEOs · $1.65B
median $36.4M
Consumer Cyclical
22 CEOs · $1.29B
median $30.2M
Healthcare
25 CEOs · $1.27B
median $32.8M
Communication Services
24 · $1.14B
Industrials
14 · $479.2M
Energy
5 · $192.3M
Consumer Defensive
6 · $191.4M
Materials
5
Utilities
2

The Pay-vs-Performance Red Zone

Top 15 of 68 recurring-pay CEOs who cleared $25M while their stock fell over the past year.

Sixty-eight CEOs cleared $25 million while their stock fell over the year. Thirty of them were underwater over three years too. This is recurring pay outrunning performance, not a grant-date mirage — the one-time mega-grants are excluded. The table shows the 15 largest such packages, the three-year return beside the one-year.

Some names recover over the longer horizon: Blackstone Inc (BX) paired $125.6M with a 14% three-year gain after a 14% one-year drop. Others don’t — Fiserv Inc (FISV) reported $70.3M as the stock fell 65% on the year and 21% over three. Weak boards cluster with the trouble: 47% of the red-zone names carry a Boardroom Alpha board grade of C or worse, against 29% of the club.

Company CEO FY2025 pay 1-yr TSR 3-yr TSR Board
Rating
Say-on-Pay
Blackstone Inc (BX) Stephen A Schwarzman $125.6M -14% +14% B-  
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS) David M Solomon $118.1M -3% +6% B+ 71%
Microsoft Corp (MSFT) Satya Nadella $96.5M -7% +10% B 92%
Sable Offshore Corp (SOC) James C Flores $75.9M -55% +13% C  
Aon PLC (AON) Gregory C Case $73.7M -12% +2% C+ 89%
Comcast Corp (CMCSA) Michael J Cavanagh $71.8M -20% -9% C 90%
Fiserv Inc (FISV) Michael P Lyons $70.3M -65% -21% C 78%
Paramount Skydance Corp (PSKY) David Ferris Ellison $63.2M -9% -9% C-  
Grindr Inc (GRND) George Arison $56.2M -46% +29% C+  
Salesforce Inc (CRM) Marc Benioff $55.1M -36% -6% C+ 77%
Netflix Inc (NFLX) Theodore A Sarandos $53.9M -29% +32% A- 86%
Netflix Inc (NFLX) Gregory K Peters $53.2M -29% +32% A- 86%
Servicenow Inc (NOW) William R McDermott $51.6M -47% +0% C+ 86%
Adobe Inc (ADBE) Shantanu Narayen $51.2M -42% -17% C- 51%
T-Mobile Us Inc (TMUS) G Michael Sievert † $50.4M -21% +13% B 97%

Every Say-on-Pay Revolt

27 club CEOs whose most recent Say-on-Pay vote drew under 70% support.

Say-on-Pay is the annual non-binding vote on executive pay; below 70% reads as a serious rebuke, below 50% an outright failure. Twenty-seven club packages fell under 70% and 8 failed outright — each row links to the underlying 8-K results.

The pattern beneath the table is the tell. The deepest rejections hit outsized or first-time grants regardless of returns: Welltower (19% support, stock +40%), IQVIA (25%), Snowflake (30%, +16%), Thermo Fisher (32%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (41%, +183%). The milder dissents in the 55–69% band — Pfizer, UnitedHealth, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, BlackRock — are the more routine grumbles over pay quantum at large, closely-watched companies. Weak returns, on their own, rarely make the list.

Support Company CEO FY2025 pay Board
Rating
Vote
18.9% Welltower Inc (WELL) Shankh Mitra $821.1M A- May 2026
24.8% Iqvia Holdings Inc (IQV) Ari Bousbib $28.1M C+ Apr 2026
30.2% Snowflake Inc (SNOW) Sridhar Ramaswamy $101.3M C Jul 2025
31.8% Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (TMO) Marc N Casper $79.9M B- May 2026
32.1% Beyond Meat Inc (BYND) Ethan Brown $29.8M C- May 2026
40.5% Warner Bros Discovery Inc (WBD) David Zaslav $165.0M C Jun 2025
41.4% Element Solutions Inc (ESI) Benjamin Gliklich $26.5M A- May 2026
46.6% Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW) Nikesh Arora $99.7M B Dec 2025
50.4% Wingstop Inc (WING) Michael Skipworth $35.3M B+ May 2026
50.7% Adobe Inc (ADBE) Shantanu Narayen $51.2M C- Apr 2026
52.6% Applied Digital Corp (APLD) Wes Cummins $27.7M C Nov 2025
53.8% Costar Group Inc (CSGP) Andrew C Florance $36.4M C Jun 2025
54.7% Pfizer Inc (PFE) Albert Bourla $27.6M C- Apr 2025
55.2% Instacart (Maplebear Inc) (CART) Chris Rogers $29.8M C+ May 2025
56.6% Omnicom Group Inc (OMC) John Wren $69.9M C May 2026
56.7% Docusign Inc (DOCU) Allan C Thygesen $26.0M C- May 2025
58.1% Somnigroup International Inc (SGI) Scott L Thompson $45.9M B May 2026
59.9% Willis Lease Finance Corp (WLFC) Charles F Willis † $52.1M B May 2026
60.1% Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH) Stephen J Hemsley $60.9M C+ Jun 2025
60.4% Citigroup Inc (C) Jane N Fraser $95.8M C+ May 2026
60.5% Coursera Inc (COUR) Gregory M Hart $39.4M C- May 2025
61.8% Nabors Industries Ltd (NBR) Anthony G Petrello $29.6M C Jun 2025
64.2% Ionq Inc (IONQ) Niccolo De Masi $89.6M B Jun 2025
65.0% Blackrock Inc (BLK) Laurence Fink $37.7M B- May 2026
65.9% Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) Charles W Scharf $94.5M B Apr 2026
66.4% Broadcom Inc (AVGO) Hock E Tan $205.3M B+ Apr 2026
69.0% Zoominfo Technologies Inc (GTM) Henry Schuck $33.3M C- May 2026

The Quiet Exits

22 of the 207 highest-paid CEOs (10.6%) have already left the job.

One in ten of the highest-paid is already gone. Of the 207 CEOs ranked here, 22 — 10.6% no longer run the company as of publication (marked † throughout). The turnover reads like ordinary succession and dealmaking, not a shareholder purge: Walmart’s Doug McMillon handed off to John Furner, Coca-Cola’s James Quincey to Henrique Braun, and Nike’s John Donahoe to Elliott Hill, while Exact Sciences’ Kevin Conroy left when Abbott acquired the company. Just 1 of the 22 had drawn a Say-on-Pay revolt — below the rate for the club as a whole — so for this cohort the exit has had little to do with the pay backlash. It is a turnover rate worth watching: more than a tenth of the best-paid seats changed hands inside a single year.

Year-Over-Year: Raises and Cuts

Same-CEO pay changes from FY2024 to FY2025.

Read the year-over-year extremes as timing before reading them as raises and cuts. A sign-on or multi-year equity award booked in full one year and gone the next can swing reported pay by hundreds of percent while ongoing pay barely moves — the rows marked ‡ are mostly that effect.

Iren Ltd (IREN) shows the upside, reported pay up 989% to $72.6M; Starbucks Corp (SBUX) the reverse, down 68% to $31.0M as Brian Niccol’s first-year sign-on award rolled off. Neither is a clean read on recurring compensation.

Biggest raises
IREN · Daniel John Roberts
$6.7M → $72.6M
↑989% ‡
GRND · George Arison
$6.5M → $56.2M
↑759% ‡
LASR · Scott H Keeney
$5.1M → $37.3M
↑626% ‡
BYND · Ethan Brown
$5.0M → $29.8M
↑495% ‡
WULF · Paul B Prager
$6.9M → $39.4M
↑470%
GTM · Henry Schuck
$6.3M → $33.3M
↑432% ‡
Biggest cuts
SBUX · Brian R Niccol
$95.8M → $31.0M
↓68% ‡
GE · H Lawrence Culp Jr
$89.0M → $45.6M
↓49% ‡
MRVL · Matthew J Murphy
$45.2M → $32.2M
↓29%
CRWD · George Kurtz
$47.0M → $35.2M
↓25%
BKNG · Glenn D Fogel
$44.8M → $35.4M
↓21%
CVX · Michael K Wirth
$32.7M → $26.8M
↓18%
Swing driven by one-time equity-grant timing — a sign-on or multi-year award booked in a single fiscal year (or rolling off the next) — not a change in ongoing pay.
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The Full $25 Million Club — All 207

Sortable and filterable. Pay is the Summary Compensation Table total; click a figure to open the filing.
Showing 207 of 207 · click any header to sort
# Ticker Company CEO FY2025 pay YoY 1-yr TSR Board
Rating
Say-on-Pay
1 WELL Welltower Inc Shankh Mitra $821.1M ◆ ↑3,965% +40% A- 19% ’26
2 OPEN Opendoor Technologies Inc Kaz Nejatian $741.1M ◆   +638% C- 97% ’25
3 RIVN Rivian Automotive Inc Robert J Scaringe $402.6M ◆ ↑2,604% -1% D 92% ’25
4 W Wayfair Inc Niraj Shah $280.8M ◆ ↑99,088% +77% C- 80% ’26
5 SMMT Summit Therapeutics Inc Maky Zanganeh $246.0M ◆ ↑21,092% -32% B+ 97% ’25
6 AVGO Broadcom Inc Hock E Tan $205.3M ◆ ↑7,692% +82% B+ 66% ’26
7 VEEV Veeva Systems Inc Peter P Gassner $172.4M ◆ ↑40,875% -31% C+ 91% ’24
8 WBD Warner Bros Discovery Inc David Zaslav $165.0M ↑218% +183% C 40% ’25
9 RBRK Rubrik Inc Bipul Sinha $140.0M ◆ ↑22,466% -26% B-  
10 BX Blackstone Inc Stephen A Schwarzman $125.6M ↑50% -14% B-  
11 GS Goldman Sachs Group Inc David M Solomon $118.1M ↑278% -3% B+ 71% ’26
12 SNOW Snowflake Inc Sridhar Ramaswamy $101.3M ◆   +16% C 30% ’25
13 PANW Palo Alto Networks Inc Nikesh Arora $99.7M ↑72% +38% B 47% ’25
14 MSFT Microsoft Corp Satya Nadella $96.5M ↑22% -7% B 92% ’25
15 C Citigroup Inc Jane N Fraser $95.8M ↑208% +69% C+ 60% ’26
16 WFC Wells Fargo & Company Charles W Scharf $94.5M ↑212% +8% B 66% ’26
17 INTC Intel Corp Lip Bu Tan $93.0M ◆   +488% C+ 87% ’26
18 IONQ Ionq Inc Niccolo De Masi $89.6M ◆   +46% B 64% ’25
19 KKR Kkr & Co Inc Joseph Y Bae $84.3M ↑15% -18% B-  
20 BNY Bank Of New York Mellon Corp Robin A Vince $83.5M ↑258% +9% B+ 94% ’25
21 KKR Kkr & Co Inc Scott C Nuttall $80.4M ↑25% -18% B-  
22 HLNE Hamilton Lane Inc Erik R Hirsch $80.2M ◆ ↑1,958% -49% C+ 76% ’25
23 TMO Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc Marc N Casper $79.9M ↑162% +21% B- 32% ’26
24 HLNE Hamilton Lane Inc Juan Delgado-Moreira $79.0M ◆ ↑2,667% -49% C+ 76% ’25
25 PCOR Procore Technologies Inc Ajei Gopal $77.4M ◆   -30% C 83% ’25
26 SOC Sable Offshore Corp James C Flores $75.9M ↑4,349% -55% C  
27 AAPL Apple Inc Timothy D Cook $74.3M flat +57% B 91% ’26
28 AON Aon PLC Gregory C Case $73.7M ↑181% -12% C+ 89% ’25
29 IREN Iren Ltd Daniel John Roberts $72.6M ↑989% +593% B-  
30 CMCSA Comcast Corp Michael J Cavanagh $71.8M ↑154% -20% C 90% ’25
31 HWM Howmet Aerospace Inc John C Plant $70.5M ↑215% +53% B+ 71% ’26
32 FISV Fiserv Inc Michael P Lyons $70.3M   -65% C 78% ’26
33 OMC Omnicom Group Inc John Wren $69.9M ↑222% +4% C 57% ’26
34 TKO Tko Group Holdings Inc Ariel Emanuel $67.4M ↑272% +28% C+ 71% ’24
35 VOR Vor Biopharma Inc Jean-Paul Kress $65.0M   +333% C  
36 COF Capital One Financial Corp Richard D Fairbank $65.0M ↑111% +6% B 84% ’26
37 KKR Kkr & Co Inc George R Roberts † $63.8M ↑41% -18% B-  
38 PSKY Paramount Skydance Corp David Ferris Ellison $63.2M   -9% C-  
39 CACC Credit Acceptance Corp Vinayak Hegde $62.6M   +14% C+ 98% ’25
40 KKR Kkr & Co Inc Henry R Kravis † $62.6M ↑34% -18% B-  
41 UNH Unitedhealth Group Inc Stephen J Hemsley $60.9M   +33% C+ 60% ’25
42 NET Cloudflare Inc Matthew Prince $60.6M ↑2,810% +41% B 89% ’25
43 CDNS Cadence Design Systems Inc Anirudh Devgan $56.7M ↑194% +16% B 87% ’26
44 GRND Grindr Inc George Arison $56.2M ↑759% -46% C+  
45 AMD Advanced Micro Devices Inc Lisa T Su $55.2M   +352% B+ 93% ’26
46 CRM Salesforce Inc Marc Benioff $55.1M ↑39% -36% C+ 77% ’25
47 NFLX Netflix Inc Theodore A Sarandos $53.9M ↓13% -29% A- 86% ’25
48 NFLX Netflix Inc Gregory K Peters $53.2M ↓12% -29% A- 86% ’25
49 RKT Rocket Companies Inc Varun Krishna $52.9M ↑104% +10% C+ 99% ’24
50 CSCO Cisco Systems Inc Charles Robbins $52.8M ↑33% +90% B- 89% ’25
51 WLFC Willis Lease Finance Corp Charles F Willis † $52.1M ↑268% +37% B 60% ’26
52 NOW Servicenow Inc William R McDermott $51.6M ↑37% -47% C+ 86% ’26
53 ADBE Adobe Inc Shantanu Narayen $51.2M ↓2% -42% C- 51% ’26
54 TMUS T-Mobile Us Inc G Michael Sievert † $50.4M ↑68% -21% B 97% ’23
55 NVDA Nvidia Corp Jen Hsun Huang $49.9M ↑46% +58% B+ 93% ’24
56 EXAS Exact Sciences Corp Kevin T Conroy † $49.5M ↑219% +137%   94% ’25
57 CLSK Cleanspark Inc Zachary Bradford † $48.8M ↑216% +84% D 76% ’25
58 MTCH Match Group Inc Spencer M Rascoff $47.0M   +23% C- 97% ’25
59 LITE Lumentum Holdings Inc Alan S Lowe † $46.4M ↑284% +998% B+ 89% ’25
60 AXP American Express Co Stephen J Squeri $46.2M ↑24% +8% C+ 93% ’26
61 SGI Somnigroup International Inc Scott L Thompson $45.9M ↑320% +8% B 58% ’26
62 DIS Walt Disney Co Robert A Iger $45.8M ↑12% -7% C- 86% ’26
63 GE GE Aerospace H Lawrence Culp Jr $45.6M ↓49% +33% B+ 96% ’26
64 CLSK Cleanspark Inc S Matthew Schultz $44.9M ↑223% +84% D 76% ’25
65 SNEX Stonex Group Inc Sean Michael Oconnor † $44.7M ↑141% +92% A 90% ’26
66 THC Tenet Healthcare Corp Saumya Sutaria $43.1M ↑75% +5% B+ 93% ’25
67 CXM Sprinklr Inc Rory P Read $42.0M   -35% C- 96% ’25
68 JPM Jpmorgan Chase & Co James Dimon $40.6M ↑8% +5% B 93% ’26
69 NXST Nexstar Media Group Inc Perry A Sook $39.5M ↑10% +10% B 96% ’25
70 WULF Terawulf Inc Paul B Prager $39.4M ↑470% +570% C- 74% ’25
71 COUR Coursera Inc Gregory M Hart $39.4M   -38% C- 60% ’25
72 FWONA Liberty Media Corp Derek Chang $39.3M   -6% C 88% ’24
73 IBM International Business Machines Corp Arvind Krishna $38.0M ↑51% +3% B- 94% ’26
74 BLK Blackrock Inc Laurence Fink $37.7M ↑23% +9% B- 65% ’26
75 LBTYA Liberty Global Ltd Michael T Fries $37.7M ↓17% +18% C- 58% ’23
76 LASR Nlight Inc Scott H Keeney $37.3M ↑626% +411% C+ 93% ’25
77 MS Morgan Stanley Edward N Pick $37.2M ↑49% +6% B+ 96% ’26
78 INTU Intuit Inc Sasan K Goodarzi $36.8M flat -58% C+ 93% ’26
79 LLY Eli Lilly & Co David A Ricks $36.7M ↑25% +56% B+ 96% ’26
80 AEP American Electric Power Co Inc William Fehrman $36.6M ↑176% +28% B- 82% ’26
81 CSGP Costar Group Inc Andrew C Florance $36.4M ↓3% -57% C 54% ’25
82 FICO Fair Isaac Corp William J Lansing $36.0M ↑1% -14% B 85% ’26
83 OCUL Ocular Therapeutix Inc Pravin Dugel $35.9M ↑94% +32% C+ 75% ’25
84 PAY Paymentus Holdings Inc Dushyant Sharma $35.6M ↑2,847% -38% B  
85 UBER Uber Technologies Inc Dara Khosrowshahi $35.6M ↓10% -20% B- 94% ’26
86 TMUS T-Mobile Us Inc Srini Gopalan $35.4M   -21% B 97% ’23
87 MA Mastercard Inc Michael Miebach $35.4M ↑18% -14% C 96% ’25
88 BKNG Booking Holdings Inc Glenn D Fogel $35.4M ↓21% -22% B 88% ’25
89 WING Wingstop Inc Michael Skipworth $35.3M ↑281% -53% B+ 50% ’26
90 BKKT Bakkt Inc Akshay Sudhir Naheta $35.2M   -4% C- 81% ’25
91 CRWD Crowdstrike Holdings Inc George Kurtz $35.2M ↓25% +42% B 86% ’24
92 MC Moelis & Co Kenneth Moelis $35.2M ↑361% +19% C+ 77% ’25
93 CMCSA Comcast Corp Brian L Roberts $35.1M ↑4% -20% C 90% ’25
94 JHG Janus Henderson Group PLC Ali Dibadj $35.0M ↑164% +41% B+ 98% ’25
95 TSN Tyson Foods Inc Donnie King $34.5M ↑51% +15% C 82% ’26
96 AN Autonation Inc Michael Mark Manley $34.4M ↑116% +4% B+ 94% ’26
97 VZ Verizon Communications Inc Daniel H Schulman $34.3M   +18% C+ 87% ’26
98 VLO Valero Energy Corp R Lane Riggs $34.2M ↑53% +92% B- 95% ’24
99 DOMH Dominari Holdings Inc Anthony Hayes $34.0M ↑1,124% -9% C+  
100 TDG Transdigm Group Inc Michael Lisman $33.9M ↑37% -7% B 97% ’26
101 SEMR Semrush Holdings Inc William Raymond Wagner $33.9M   +16%   100% ’25
102 BAC Bank Of America Corp Brian T Moynihan $33.7M ↑17% +10% B- 95% ’26
103 MSCI Msci Inc Henry A Fernandez $33.3M ↑112% +12% C+ 94% ’26
104 SRRK Scholar Rock Holding Corp David Hallal $33.3M   +64% C- 96% ’25
105 GTM Zoominfo Technologies Inc Henry Schuck $33.3M ↑432% -67% C- 69% ’26
106 WSM Williams Sonoma Inc Laura Alber $33.3M ↑20% +25% C+ 86% ’25
107 EXEL Exelixis Inc Michael Morrissey $33.2M ↑161% +19% B- 97% ’25
108 CB Chubb Ltd Evan G Greenberg $33.2M ↑10% +11% B 94% ’24
109 INTC Intel Corp Michelle Johnston Holthaus † $33.1M ↑162% +488% C+ 87% ’26
110 FOXA Fox Corp Lachlan K Murdoch $33.0M ↑39% +17% A- 96% ’25
111 JNJ Johnson & Johnson Joaquin Duato $32.8M ↑35% +54% B+ 95% ’26
112 LYV Live Nation Entertainment Inc Michael Rapino $32.6M ↓1% +17% C+ 74% ’25
113 ABBV Abbvie Inc Robert A Michael $32.5M ↑76% +22% B 95% ’26
114 AIG American International Group Inc Peter Zaffino $32.5M ↑32% -9% B- 78% ’26
115 UAL United Airlines Holdings Inc J Scott Kirby $32.3M ↓5% +47% B- 94% ’26
116 TSCO Tractor Supply Co Harry A Lawton III $32.3M ↑174% -36% B 86% ’26
117 BLCO Bausch & Lomb Corp Brent L Saunders $32.2M ↑35% +32% C+ 100% ’26
118 MRVL Marvell Technology Inc Matthew J Murphy $32.2M ↓29% +222% B+ 83% ’25
119 INCY Incyte Corp William Meury $32.1M   +49% C- 92% ’25
120 V Visa Inc Ryan McInerney $31.6M ↑21% -9% C+ 94% ’26
121 KO Coca Cola Co James Quincey † $31.2M ↑11% +15% B- 91% ’26
122 VZ Verizon Communications Inc Hans Erik Vestberg † $31.2M ↑29% +18% C+ 87% ’26
123 LVS Las Vegas Sands Corp Robert G Goldstein † $31.1M ↑42% +25% C- 91% ’26
124 SBUX Starbucks Corp Brian R Niccol $31.0M ↓68% +19% C 89% ’26
125 MU Micron Technology Inc Sanjay Mehrotra $30.9M ↑3% +861% B 84% ’25
126 AMP Ameriprise Financial Inc James M Cracchiolo $30.8M ↑10% -14% B- 91% ’26
127 IKT Inhibikase Therapeutics Inc Mark T Iwicki $30.6M   0% C+  
128 EA Electronic Arts Inc Andrew Wilson $30.5M ↑19% +38% B- 90% ’25
129 EAT Brinker International Inc Kevin Hochman $30.5M ↑296% -15% B+ 96% ’25
130 CWH Camping World Holdings Inc Marcus Lemonis $30.4M ↑226,565% -53% C- 95% ’26
131 SOFI Sofi Technologies Inc Anthony Noto $30.3M ↑8% +27% B- 77% ’25
132 CSTM Constellium Se Jean-Marc Germain † $30.2M ↑240% +179% B  
133 T AT&T Inc John T Stankey $29.9M ↑13% -5% C+ 93% ’26
134 TPG Tpg Inc Jon Winkelried $29.9M ↓9% -9% C  
135 GM General Motors Co Mary T Barra $29.9M ↑1% +74% B- 91% ’25
136 CART Instacart (Maplebear Inc) Chris Rogers $29.8M   -15% C+ 55% ’25
137 BYND Beyond Meat Inc Ethan Brown $29.8M ↑495% -74% C- 32% ’26
138 BAX Baxter International Inc Andrew P Hider $29.8M   -37% C 91% ’26
139 QCOM Qualcomm Inc Cristiano R Amon $29.7M ↑15% +68% C 92% ’26
140 AMAT Applied Materials Inc Gary E Dickerson $29.6M ↑7% +180% A 93% ’26
141 NBR Nabors Industries Ltd Anthony G Petrello $29.6M ↑144% +250% C 62% ’25
142 LEN Lennar Corp Stuart A Miller $29.5M flat -15% C+ 90% ’26
143 PNC Pnc Financial Services Group Inc William S Demchak $29.5M ↑32% +29% C+ 94% ’26
144 OWL Blue Owl Capital Inc Douglas I Ostrover $29.2M ↑22% -43% C- 96% ’25
145 OWL Blue Owl Capital Inc Marc S Lipschultz $29.2M ↑22% -43% C- 96% ’25
146 PM Philip Morris International Inc Jacek Olczak $29.1M ↑44% +3% B+ 96% ’26
147 EBAY Ebay Inc Jamie Iannone $28.5M ↑40% +57% B 87% ’25
148 JEF Jefferies Financial Group Inc Richard B Handler $28.4M ↑26% +9% B- 88% ’26
149 NKE Nike Inc John J Donahoe † $28.4M ↓3% -23% C- 94% ’25
150 GILD Gilead Sciences Inc Daniel P O'Day $28.4M ↑20% +28% B- 92% ’26
151 LRCX Lam Research Corp Timothy Archer $28.3M ↓6% +282% B 91% ’24
152 SO Southern Co Christopher C Womack $28.2M ↑18% +6% B- 95% ’26
153 IQV Iqvia Holdings Inc Ari Bousbib $28.1M ↑5% +29% C+ 25% ’26
154 MP Mp Materials Corp James H Litinsky $28.0M ↑363% +256% B- 90% ’25
155 LNC Lincoln National Corp Ellen Cooper $28.0M ↑76% +10% C- 94% ’25
156 DE Deere & Co John C May II $27.9M flat +7% B 92% ’26
157 COGT Cogent Biosciences Inc Andrew R Robbins $27.8M ↑465% +625% B 99% ’25
158 APLD Applied Digital Corp Wes Cummins $27.7M ↑857% +554% C 53% ’25
159 HLT Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc Christopher J Nassetta $27.7M ↓1% +34% B 93% ’26
160 LITE Lumentum Holdings Inc Michael E Hurlston $27.7M   +998% B+ 89% ’25
161 PFE Pfizer Inc Albert Bourla $27.6M ↑12% +18% C- 55% ’25
162 MLI Mueller Industries Inc Gregory L Christopher $27.6M ↑21% +65% A 95% ’26
163 F Ford Motor Co James D Farley $27.5M ↑11% +69% B- 96% ’26
164 ADI Analog Devices Inc Vincent Roche $27.5M ↑22% +96% B- 90% ’26
165 TTD Trade Desk Inc Jeffrey Terry Green $27.4M ↑306% -72% C- 75% ’26
166 CACC Credit Acceptance Corp Kenneth Booth † $27.4M ↑2,592% +14% C+ 98% ’25
167 WMT Walmart Inc Doug McMillon † $27.4M ↑2% +23% A- 95% ’25
168 VIRT Virtu Financial Inc Douglas A Cifu † $27.3M ↑177% +21% C 100% ’25
169 TT Trane Technologies PLC David S Regnery $27.3M ↓3% +5% A- 90% ’25
170 CNR Core Natural Resources Inc Paul A Lang † $27.2M   +30% B- 98% ’26
171 DDOG Datadog Inc Olivier Pomel $27.1M ↑36% +92% C+ 96% ’25
172 STOK Stoke Therapeutics Inc Ian F Smith $27.0M   +244% C+ 91% ’25
173 TRV Travelers Companies Inc Alan D Schnitzer $27.0M ↑17% +8% B 93% ’26
174 CVX Chevron Corp Michael K Wirth $26.8M ↓18% +38% B- 97% ’26
175 H Hyatt Hotels Corp Mark Samuel Hoplamazian $26.7M ↑61% +41% C+ 100% ’26
176 BETR Better Home & Finance Holding Co Vishal Garg $26.7M ↑3,455% +110% C-  
177 ROKU Roku Inc Anthony J Wood $26.6M ↓4% +82% C+ 79% ’25
178 ESI Element Solutions Inc Benjamin Gliklich $26.5M ↑283% +92% A- 41% ’26
179 HCA Hca Healthcare Inc Samuel N Hazen $26.5M ↑11% +2% B+ 94% ’26
180 FISV Fiserv Inc Frank Bisignano † $26.4M ↑11% -65% C 78% ’26
181 ROP Roper Technologies Inc Laurence Neil Hunn $26.2M ↑11% -44% C 94% ’26
182 WAB Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp Rafael Santana $26.2M ↑25% +29% B+ 92% ’26
183 WDAY Workday Inc Carl M Eschenbach † $26.2M ↑938% -46% C- 86% ’25
184 DOCU Docusign Inc Allan C Thygesen $26.0M ↑14% -43% C- 57% ’25
185 NKE Nike Inc Elliott Hill $26.0M   -23% C- 94% ’25
186 GD General Dynamics Corp Phebe N Novakovic $25.9M ↑9% +27% B- 98% ’26
187 REXR Rexford Industrial Realty Inc Howard Schwimmer $25.9M ↑97% +4% C 88% ’26
188 REXR Rexford Industrial Realty Inc Michael S Frankel $25.9M ↑97% +4% C 88% ’26
189 BNTC Benitec Biopharma Inc Jerel A Banks $25.9M ↑719% -19% C 78% ’25
190 CP Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd Keith Edward Creel $25.7M ↑9% +13% C 88% ’26
191 LNG Cheniere Energy Inc Jack A Fusco $25.6M ↑6% +0% C+ 91% ’26
192 LHX L3Harris Technologies Inc Christopher E Kubasik $25.6M ↑23% +29% C+ 95% ’26
193 VERX Vertex Inc Christopher Young $25.6M ↑205% -68% C- 100% ’24
194 AI C3Ai Inc Thomas M Siebel $25.5M ↑3% -57% D 86% ’25
195 CCOI Cogent Communications Holdings Inc Dave Schaeffer $25.4M ↑100% -58% C- 96% ’24
196 NOC Northrop Grumman Corp Kathy J Warden $25.4M ↑4% +20% C+ 95% ’26
197 MGM Mgm Resorts International William Hornbuckle $25.3M ↑60% +34% C 93% ’26
198 PYPL Paypal Holdings Inc Alex Chriss † $25.2M ↑279% -37% C- 90% ’26
199 ADSK Autodesk Inc Andrew Anagnost $25.2M ↑22% -20% C+ 88% ’25
200 TDG Transdigm Group Inc Kevin Stein † $25.2M ↑18% -7% B 97% ’26
201 DHI Horton D R Inc Paul J Romanowski $25.1M flat +22% B- 93% ’26
202 META Meta Platforms Inc Mark Zuckerberg $25.1M ↓8% -1% B- 90% ’25
203 KLAC Kla Corp Richard P Wallace $25.1M ↑10% +146% A- 92% ’25
204 MRSH Marsh & Mclennan Companies Inc John Q Doyle $25.1M ↑10% -30% C+ 88% ’26
205 AFL Aflac Inc Daniel P Amos $25.0M ↑30% +11% B 96% ’26
206 NDAQ Nasdaq Inc Adena T Friedman $25.0M ↑16% +11% B- 96% ’25
207 SSNC Ss&C Technologies Holdings Inc William C Stone $25.0M ↓3% -17% B+ 84% ’26
Source: Boardroom Alpha · Summary Compensation Table totals from DEF 14A filings · board grades from Boardroom Alpha director ratings · 14 are one-time mega-grants (grant-date value booked in a single fiscal year) · † 22 marked are no longer their company’s CEO as of publication (stepped down or company acquired)

What’s Next

The 2026 calendar is still open — and the Tesla precedent is set.

The 2026 proxy calendar still has hundreds of votes to come, and the early returns have set the terms. Tesla’s holders showed that magnitude is no barrier when a package is expected and tied to hard targets; Welltower’s showed that a surprise nine-figure grant can be rejected even after a 40% year. The contests to watch are the next first-time mega-grants at companies whose investors aren’t primed for them. Boardroom Alpha tracks every Say-on-Pay vote, director election, and pay disclosure as it is filed — this club will keep moving.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many CEOs earned more than $25 million in 2025?
207 U.S. public-company CEOs had a fiscal-2025 Summary Compensation Table total of at least $25 million, up from 153 a year earlier. 54 cleared $50 million and 12 cleared $100 million.
Who was the highest-paid CEO in 2025?
Shankh Mitra of Welltower Inc (WELL), at $821.1M — a package dominated by a one-time equity award, not annual cash compensation.
What is a Say-on-Pay vote and which CEOs failed?
Say-on-Pay is the annual non-binding shareholder vote on executive compensation. 27 club CEOs drew under 70% support and 8 failed outright below 50%, led by Welltower Inc's Shankh Mitra at 18.9%.
Why are one-time mega-grants broken out separately?
SEC rules report stock and option awards at grant-date fair value in the year they are granted. A single multi-year award can therefore show up as a nine-figure number in one fiscal year, distorting averages. Separating them shows recurring pay more honestly.
How does Boardroom Alpha grade boards?
Each company's board grade is an A–F rating derived from Boardroom Alpha's proprietary director alpha scores, which assess directors on shareholder-return and governance track record across their tenures.

Recent Analysis

2026 Proxy Season Scorecard: Six Say-on-Pay Failures, AI Lands on Mega-Cap Ballots, and the Anti-ESG Pile-Up

Through May 21, 2026, U.S. public-company shareholders rejected six annual-meeting Say-on-Pay packages outright, voted against 18 directors at 14 companies, and crushed dozens of mega-cap shareholder proposals at sub-3% support. Plus: AI proposals filed at Alphabet, Meta, Walmart, and IBM; the split verdict on special-meeting rights; the activist-vote scorecard from four 2026 director-slate contests.

Weekly Recap: MO, OHI, WEN Rewire the C-Suite — May 22, 2026

Succession moved from emergency cleanup to portfolio rotation this week, with 24 CEO changes and 21 CFO changes across the tracked C-suite. Altria paired a CEO handoff with a CFO change, Omega Healthcare reset three senior finance and operating seats, and Wendy’s went back to the CEO market for the third time in three years.

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Disclaimer

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