Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's Salary in 2023

Elon Musk, the wealthiest individual on the planet, emerged as the highest-paid CEO in 2021. Claiming the top spot on Fortune's list of the highest-paid CEOs among the Fortune 500, Elon Musk's total compensation amounted to an impressive $23.5 billion. This significant sum was primarily derived from the exercise of Tesla stock options, which were granted to him in a multiyear "moonshot" grant back in 2018.This marked the largest CEO payday of the year. Following Musk, the top 10 highest-paid Fortune 500 CEOs of 2021 were predominantly from the technology and biotech sectors, including the heads of Apple, Netflix, and Microsoft.

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft and of Indian origin, also made it to the top 10 list. Nadella received a salary of $309.4 million in 2021, ranking seventh. He has consistently been voted the "most underrated" CEO for six consecutive years, according to Fortune's survey behind the World's Most Admired Companies. Microsoft reported impressive financial results in 2021, with a 38% increase in profits and revenue reaching $61 billion and $168 billion, respectively. The successful launch of the Surface laptop and tablet contributed to this growth, although the company faced challenges due to a chip shortage affecting Xbox game consoles.

Fortune magazine conducted an analysis focusing on the remuneration packages of 280 CEOs from Fortune 500 companies. The study revealed that these top executives had a median total compensation of $15.9 million. This figure indicates a notable 30% rise in comparison to the previous year. The calculation of a CEO's total realized pay included factors such as salary, bonuses, other compensation (e.g., vested restricted stock grants, long-term incentive payouts, and perks), and stock gains resulting from exercising stock options. Unexercised options were excluded from the tabulation due to their unpredictable value.

Notably, CEO pay significantly surpasses that of the average employee. In 2020, the average CEO of a large company earned 351 times the pay of the average worker on a realized basis, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). This ratio has risen considerably from 21-to-1 back in 1965.

The remaining top positions on the list of highest-paid Fortune 500 CEOs in 2021 included Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, with a salary of $770.5 million, followed by Jensen Huang, the co-founder of software company NVIDIA, who earned $561 million. Reed Hastings, co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Netflix, secured the fourth spot with a compensation of $453.5 million. Leonard Schleifer, the co-founder and CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, ranked fifth with a salary of $452.9 million.