Every bonus balances somewhere.
Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO
NZ$30.9m
FY27 target remuneration (US$18.5m). ~60% vests over three years; company projects realisable pay of ~US$4.4m.
Share price down roughly 47% over the prior year; 70%+ of shareholders initially opposed the package.
Awarded in the same week the chair explained the company must 'remain competitive'.
Sources: NZ Herald · BusinessDesk
Jolie Hodson, CEO
NZ$886k
FY26 short-term bonus of $859,908 plus $26,368 long-term incentive; total remuneration $2.2m after a base-salary rise to $1.31m.
Awarded in a year the company cut 627 staff.
The CEO says the bonus was 'based on performance'. The 627 staff were unavailable for comment.
Niraj Shah, Co-founder & CEO
US$280.8m
2025 package of US$280.8m, almost entirely a one-time multi-year performance stock grant — the top-ranked US package in Equilar's survey.
A 990% jump in a single year, technically attached to an US$80,000 salary.
The US$80,000 salary is presumably for the days the stock units are resting.
Sources: The Motley Fool · Business Model Analyst
Hock Tan, CEO
US$205.3m
Reported 2025 compensation of US$205.3m, buoyed by the AI infrastructure build-out.
Roughly 3,400 years of work at the US median wage, credited for one.
Semiconductors had a good year. One person had a better one.
Sources: The Motley Fool
Elon Musk, CEO
US$1tn
Up to US$1tn in stock over a decade if Tesla hits milestones ending at an US$8.5tn market cap. Board-valued at ~US$88b; approved with 75% shareholder support.
Even at the board's conservative valuation, roughly what every other S&P 500 CEO combined was paid in a year, per Glass Lewis.
The largest pay package in corporate history, announced on stage with dancing robots. Too large to draw on our scale page — see for yourself.
21 senior executives, Management retention scheme
£18.5m
£18.5m retention-bonus scheme for 21 senior managers, structured as three payments over two years; the first tranche was paid at 50% of base salary in April 2025.
Paid out of a £3bn emergency loan raised to rescue the utility from financial collapse, amid sewage spills and a possible nationalisation.
The chair told MPs the board 'does not intend to recover this money'. The sewage, presumably, also stays where it landed.
Sources: The Guardian via Yahoo · Sharecast/HL
David Zaslav, CEO
US$51.9m
2024 total of US$51.9m: US$3m salary, US$23.1m in stock awards, US$23.9m in incentive pay, plus US$1.9m of 'other'.
398 times the median WBD employee's US$130,316.
The 'other' column includes US$991,179 for personal security and US$813,990 of personal jet use. His 401(k) match was US$20,700 — almost relatable.
Sources: Variety via IMDb
Brian Niccol, CEO
US$96m
US$96m for roughly four months of 2024 — ~94% stock awards, partly replacing forfeited Chipotle equity — plus a US$5m sign-on bonus paid at his one-month anniversary.
6,666 times the median Starbucks worker's pay, for a third of a year, ahead of announced job cuts.
Works out near US$800,000 a day. The company also covered his jet commute from Southern California; relocation to Seattle was not required.
Sources: Fortune/Bloomberg · Yahoo Finance
Dave Calhoun, CEO (departing)
US$32.7m
2023 total direct compensation valued at US$32.7m — a 45% rise and the highest package in Boeing's history — driven by US$30m in stock grants. Retirement payouts were valued at a further US$44m+.
Voted through months after a fuselage panel blew out mid-flight, with the stock down ~29% and a DOJ fraud review in the headlines.
He declined the US$2.8m cash bonus after the door blew off. The other US$32.7m stayed bolted on.
Carlos Tavares, CEO
€36.5m
2023 package worth up to €36.5m (US$38.8m), a 56% rise year on year; approved by ~70% in a consultative shareholder vote.
Awarded while the carmaker cut costs and workforce for its EV transition; both major proxy advisers recommended voting it down.
He compared his contract to a footballer's or an F1 driver's. Neither of those gets to restructure the stadium.
Sources: Gulf News/AFP
Pascal Soriot, CEO
£16.9m
£16.9m in salary and bonuses for 2023 — the best-paid chief executive in the FTSE 100 — with a further increase put to the 2024 AGM.
Proxy adviser Glass Lewis called the proposed increase 'excessive'.
A top-20 shareholder's rebuttal: he is 'massively underpaid'. Somewhere, a nurse doing a double shift agrees to disagree.
Sources: Off to Lunch
Alan Joyce, CEO (departing)
A$21.4m
Planned final payout disclosed in the 2023 annual report; A$9.26m was later clawed back after an internal review into the airline's conduct.
The airline had illegally sacked 1,700 ground staff and was sued for selling tickets on flights it had already cancelled.
The board found his decisions caused 'considerable harm' to staff and customers. The remaining millions cleared for landing anyway.
Sources: Fortune/Bloomberg · Fortune Asia
Alex Karp, Co-founder & CEO
US$1.1b
2020 grant-year pay: US$797.9m in stock options plus US$296.4m in stock awards atop a US$1.1m salary, disclosed in the year Palantir listed.
An 8,991% increase on the US$12.1m he was paid the year before.
By 2024 the same equity had ballooned so far that the SEC's 'compensation actually paid' line read US$6.8b. Palantir's footnote insists that isn't real money.
Sources: Benzinga · Sherwood News