World¡¯s Richest Person Elon Musk Was The Highest-paid CEO In 2021, Reveals Fortune 500 List

The world's richest person, Elon Musk, was the highest-paid CEO in 2021, as per a Fortune 500 list. The Tesla CEO topped Fortune's new list of the most highly compensated CEOs on the Fortune 500.

As per the list, in 2021, Musk "realized" compensation worth almost $23.5 billion, from exercising some Tesla stock options awarded in a 2018 multiyear ¡°moonshot¡± grant. That was by far the biggest CEO payday in 2021, according to the Fortune report. In 2018, Billionaire Elon Musk was reportedly awarded 101.3 million stock options (adjusted for the 5-for-1 stock split in 2020) in 12 milestone-based tranches, as per a CNBC report.

Fortune 500 list¡¯s analysis reportedly evaluated the pay packages of 280 Fortune 500 CEOs, who earned a median total compensation of $15.9 million, up 30% from a year earlier.

When calculating a CEO¡¯s total realized pay, the following were measured for the company¡¯s most recent fiscal year: salary and bonuses; other compensation such as vested restricted stock grants, long-term incentive payouts and perks; and stock gains in the form of value realized from exercising stock options. Because the value of unexercised options is unpredictable, it was not considered in computing the total compensation.

After Musk, the most highly compensated Fortune 500 CEOs of 2021 are all tech and biotech CEOs, including Apple¡¯s Tim Cook, NVIDIA¡¯s Jensen Huang, Netflix¡¯s 4. Reed Hastings, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals¡¯ Leonard Schleifer, Salesforce¡¯s Marc Benioff, Microsoft¡¯s Satya Nadella, Activision Blizzard¡¯s Robert A. Kotick, Broadcom¡¯s Hock E. Tan and Oracle¡¯s Safra A. Catz.

Here¡¯s more from the Fortune500 list of the highest-paid CEOs.

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Also Read: From Elon Musk To Mark Zuckerberg-Why Do The 'Rich CEOs' Take A $1 Salary?

1. Elon Musk, Tesla: $23.5 billion

Elon Musk's Tesla had a blockbuster in 2021, bringing in $53.8 billion in revenue, up 71% from 2020, as per Fortune's report. Tesla reportedly delivered 936,000 vehicles in 2021, a 87% increase that puts the company at the pinnacle of the global EV industry, with a 14% market share.

2. Tim Cook, Apple: $770.5 million

Tim Cook earned $770.5 million in 2021, mostly as a part of a 10-year grant of shares worth $1.7 billion, as per the Fortune report. Apple's market value during his tenure since 2011 has reportedly increased by $2.2 trillion.

In Apple's fiscal year 2021 (Sept 202-Sept 2021), CEO Tim Cook had reportedly received $98.73 million in compensation, according to an SEC filing published in January 2022.

The pay disclosure included the breakup as- $3 million in salary,$12 million bonus for hitting Apple financial and environmental sustainability goals,$1.39 million in other compensation, and $82.35 million in stock awards.

3. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA, $561 million

Huang is the co-founder of the software company NVIDIA. A spokesperson reportedly acknowledged that during the latest fiscal year, Huang "realized about $507 million from expiring options that had been granted in 2011 and 2012, reflecting the approximately 60x increase in the company¡¯s share price over the [past] decade."

4. Reed Hastings, Netflix: $453.5 million

Hastings is the co-founder, CEO, and chairman of the streaming giant Netflix.

A spokesperson reportedly disputed Fortune's analysis of Hastings' realized pay of $453.5 million and only reiterated the total value of his "granted" compensation for 2021: "Per our proxy statement his compensation in 2021 was $40.8 million, with $650,000 in cash and $39.7 million in stock options", the spokesperson reportedly said.

5. Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: $452.9 million

Schleifer is the co-founder and CEO of Regeneron, a biopharmaceutical company that makes a variety of medications that treat asthma, cancer, chronic pain, and more.

The company¡¯s revenue rose 89.1% in 2021, driven by the company's REGEN-COV antibody treatment for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

As per the Fortune report, a spokesperson noted that the bulk of Schleifer's realized pay, as per Fortune's analysis, "reflects the exercise of long-held options that were reaching their ten-year expiration point," and said, "Regeneron¡¯s compensation philosophy has always emphasized long-term incentives in the form of stock options and other equity-based awards, as we believe this aligns employee interests with the typically long-term nature of drug development."

6. Marc Benioff, Salesforce: $439.4 million

Benioff founded Salesforce in 1999, adopting the marketing slogan "The End of Software." The cloud-based customer relationship management platform¡¯s acquisitions of MuleSoft, Tableau, and Slack have reportedly helped fuel growth in recent years. As per the Fortune report, its revenue rose 24.7% percent in 2021.

7. Satya Nadella, Microsoft: $309.4 million

This year, Microsoft CEO Nadella was reportedly voted the ¡°most underrated¡± CEO for the sixth consecutive year, according to the survey behind Fortune¡¯s World¡¯s Most Admired Companies. Nadella has headed that list since 2017.

As per the Fortune report, Microsoft posted a robust 38% increase in profits last year¡ªearning $61 billion, the fourth-largest sum among Fortune 500 companies, as revenue rose 17.5% to $168 billion thanks to a successful Surface laptop and tablet launch.

8. Robert A. Kotick, Activision Blizzard: $296.7 million

Kotick became CEO of Activision in 1991. The gaming giant¡¯s CEO, best known for games like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, earned $296.7 million last year, according to Fortune¡¯s report and calculations from the value realized on vested restricted stock.

9. Hock E. Tan, Broadcom: $288 million

Tan has been CEO of Broadcom since Avago's $37 billion acquisition of the semiconductor company in 2015.

Broadcom, which designs and manufactures a wide range of semiconductor and software products, saw its revenue rise 14.9% in 2021, as per Fortune report.

10. Safra A. Catz, Oracle: $239.5 million

Catz joined Oracle as a Senior Vice President in 1999 and became CEO in 2019.

Oracle, which is best known for database software, has reportedly struggled in recent years with sluggish revenue growth. The company slid down 11 spots to 91 on the Fortune 500 list. In December 2021, Oracle announced a $28 billion deal to acquire electronic health records company Cerner; as of May 2022, that deal was still under regulatory review in the U.S. and Europe, as per Fortune report.

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