The Stock Dock did an analysis on bonus payments of CEOs from different companies to find which CEO has the highest bonus payments in the last five years. According to the data, Elon Musk is at the top of the list with an average yearly bonus of $456.8 million. This average was slightly influenced by $2.23 billion that was given to Elon Musk in 2018, the highest bonus given to any CEO ever. Most of Elon’s earnings are based on performance based stocks and shows the difference between wages in company’s leaderships.
The CEO with the second highest bonus is Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai with an average bonus of $98.9 million. He received $10 million in cash in 2022 and $42.2 million bonus as stocks. This means that with each earning Alphabet is making, Sundar Pichai is taking $245 average as bonus. Third place is secured by Amazon’s Andy Jassy. He has taken an average $53.4 million bonus and his highest recent bonus was in 2021 with $211 million equity bonus. He made an average $6198 bonus payments with every dollar an Amazon worker makes.
Apple’s Tim Cook came in fourth place with a $46.6 million average bonus as he was given $82 million in stocks in 2022. Oracle’s Safra Catz has secured the fifth place with an average bonus of over $43 million a year. She received $129 million in stocks in 2022. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, came at sixth and seventh place with over $42 million and $41 million bonuses yearly. The eighth, ninth and tenth spots were secured by JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon ($40.6 million), Intel’s Patrick P. Gelsinger ($37.2 million) and Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen ($34.9 million).
These amounts of bonus show that there is a huge difference between wages of employees and bonuses of CEOs. This shows the inequality and gap between employees and CEOs that decrease the morale of employees. Founder of Stock Dock, Adam Garcia, says that many CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg have given up any bonuses and chosen a $1 salary. But many other CEOs receive bonuses due to stocks as this gives them a right to buy and sell them.
Read next: Financial Giants: Ranking the World’s Largest Banks by Consolidated Assets
The CEO with the second highest bonus is Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai with an average bonus of $98.9 million. He received $10 million in cash in 2022 and $42.2 million bonus as stocks. This means that with each earning Alphabet is making, Sundar Pichai is taking $245 average as bonus. Third place is secured by Amazon’s Andy Jassy. He has taken an average $53.4 million bonus and his highest recent bonus was in 2021 with $211 million equity bonus. He made an average $6198 bonus payments with every dollar an Amazon worker makes.
Apple’s Tim Cook came in fourth place with a $46.6 million average bonus as he was given $82 million in stocks in 2022. Oracle’s Safra Catz has secured the fifth place with an average bonus of over $43 million a year. She received $129 million in stocks in 2022. Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, and CEO of Netflix, Reed Hastings, came at sixth and seventh place with over $42 million and $41 million bonuses yearly. The eighth, ninth and tenth spots were secured by JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon ($40.6 million), Intel’s Patrick P. Gelsinger ($37.2 million) and Adobe’s Shantanu Narayen ($34.9 million).
These amounts of bonus show that there is a huge difference between wages of employees and bonuses of CEOs. This shows the inequality and gap between employees and CEOs that decrease the morale of employees. Founder of Stock Dock, Adam Garcia, says that many CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg have given up any bonuses and chosen a $1 salary. But many other CEOs receive bonuses due to stocks as this gives them a right to buy and sell them.
Read next: Financial Giants: Ranking the World’s Largest Banks by Consolidated Assets