In the world of highly paid CEOs, consumer technology companies and heavyweights like Tim Cook or Mark Zuckerberg may come to mind. So far this year, though, the highest paid CEO in the U.S. is the leader of a high-tech business few have likely heard of.
Although Anderson is entitled to a base salary of $1.06 million, the CEO only joined the company in June 2024, so he received just $81,538 in cash. But that base salary, plus a signing bonus of $500,000, were just a small chunk of Anderson’s overall compensation, as he was awarded more than $100,000,000 in stock awards, according to Coherent’s 2024 proxy statement.
Of the 100 highest paid CEOs, Anderson was the only one whose compensation exceeded nine figures.
The median CEO compensation in 2024 was $25.6 million, a 9.5% increase from last year, Equilar’s study found. CEO pay has been on the rise in recent years thanks to big stock payouts, Equilar found.
The median stock award for CEOs skyrocketed 40.5% year-over-year, the study showed, and stock awards made up just under three-quarters of the total median compensation for the CEOs studied by Equilar.
