Top 10 US CEOs Raked in $5.7 Billion in 2023 - Enough to Pay 90,000 Average Workers

Big corporations have long prioritized CEO compensation, particularly when stock prices rise and revenue increments occur. 2023 served as a marquee year for most of these corporations, resulting in enormous paychecks for some CEOs. According to Stocklytics.com, the top 10 highest-paid US CEOs’ wages totaled nearly $6 billion in 2023, enough to compensate about 90,000 average workers. 

The site’s financial analyst, Edith Reads, comments:

While it’s impressive that companies are thriving and stock market performance remains strong, the growing gap between CEO compensation and average worker wages highlights serious concerns about income inequality. The persistence of high CEO rewards in 2023, despite substantial corporate profits, underscores a troubling disparity in how the benefits of a company’s success are distributed.

Stocklytics financial analyst, Edith Reads

Top US Executives’ Compensation

Annual compensation for executives escalated tremendously in 2023, with the top CEOs cashing in nine-figure paychecks and additional benefits. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, is first on the list of the highest-paid US CEOs, scooping $1.4 billion by the end of 2023. 

His compensation aligns with Tesla’s fourth straight year of profitability, as the company reported nearly $15 billion in net income for 2023. Moreover, Tesla’s revenues experienced close to a 19% rise from its 2022 revenues. Consequently, this remarkable growth in performance subtly justifies Elon Musk’s substantial pay compensation. 

Second on the list of top-paid US CEOs was Alexander Karp, CEO Of Palantir Technologies, who received an astounding $1.1 billion in pay. Karp’s pay echoes the company’s profitable dealings with the US armed forces and corporations who value its data analytics and intelligence tools.

In third place is Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom, who earned $766 million in annual compensation. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase Global, ranks fourth, taking home over $681 million.

Finally, Safra Catz, Oracle CEO, rounds out the top five. As the only woman among the top ten highest-paid executives, Catz earned over $304 million, underscoring her pivotal role in Oracle’s recent acquisition deals.

CEO To Worker Pay Gap

The salary of US executives was more than 344 times that of the average worker in 2022, hinting at a higher ratio disparity with the latest 2023 reveal on CEO compensation. 

The CEO-to-worker gap keeps increasing as company boards scramble to retain their top talents and reward them for their contributions to corporate profits. Kelly Malafis, a founding partner of Compensation Advisory Partners in New York, provided similar insight, “In this post-pandemic market, the desire is for boards to reward and retain CEOs when they feel they have a good leader in place.”

However, high CEO compensation has stirred a string of anxieties and overall disapproval from the average workforce. The high salary and stock award increments reflect inequality and imbalance for some of these workers, as seen with the Hollywood writer’s strike targeting Disney CEO Bob Iger for earning 500 times more than the average Disney employee, unearthing the broad discontent among workers.

Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, holds that the massive disparities between top executives and workers contribute immensely to Americans’ overall dissatisfaction with the economy.