Who are the highest paid CEOs in America in 2024?

The average pay was $15.7 million dollars

It didn’t matter if a CEO's company performed poorly

The answer might surprise you

Chief Executive Officers in America make a lot of money but there is a very small group of these business leaders that make an obscene amount of cash in exchange for their services to their company, and just how much some are making may surprise you.

The average pay was $15.7 million dollars

The Wall Street Journal investigated just how much American Chief Executive Officers made in 2023 and it turns out they pulled in a record all-time high amount. The average annual pay for most CEOs was $15.7 million dollars.

A big increase in pay from 2022

In 2022, the median pay for CEOs was only about $14.5 million, so the country’s titans of industry made a lot of extra cash. Most executives saw a 9% year-over-year rise in 2023 over 2022 while most companies returned at least 13% to shareholders.

It didn’t matter if a CEO's company performed poorly

“Median total pay was $14.6 million for the 20% of CEOs whose companies recorded the worst returns compared with other companies in the same sector, and $15.7 million for CEOs at the best-performing companies,” The Wall Street Journal noted.

Where did the data come from?

The Wall Street Journal collected its information from MyLogicIQ, an online research platform that provides public company data and analysis. The data included information on more than 400 companies and revealed a lot about the high pay of CEOS in the U.S.

Looking at the highest paid CEOs

Eight of the highest paid executives in America came from the technology sector whereas five headed financial companies or media empires. So which CEOs were paid the most in money in 2023? Let’s take a look at the top ten.

10. Glenn Fogel

Company: Booking Holdings

Total Pay: $46.7 million

Cash Pay: $5.8 million

Sector: Consumer Cyclical

9. David Zaslav

Company: Warner Bros. Discovery

Total Pay: $49.7 million

Cash Pay: $25.0 million

Sector: Communication Services

8. Theodore Sarandos

Company: Netflix