Average Highest Executive Salary of Chinese Listed Companies Declines for the First Time in 25 Years

Average Highest Executive Salary in Mainland A-Share Listed Companies Down 3.3%

A survey revealed that the average highest salary of executive-level officers in Chinese listed companies has decreased for the first time in 25 years.

According to the "China Entrepreneur Value Report" published by Longzheng Consulting, the average highest salary of executives in mainland A-share listed companies decreased by 3.27% compared to the previous year, reported Chinese economic media Caixin on the 30th. The "average highest salary" is a statistic based on the highest-paid individuals by rank among a valid sample of 5,311 listed companies surveyed by Longzheng Consulting. This is the first time the average highest salary has contracted since Longzheng Consulting began related surveys in 1999.

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The survey results showed that the chairman's salary was 1,317,000 yuan (approximately 248.22 million KRW), down 3.32% from the previous year. By rank, the CEO earned 1,337,600 yuan, vice presidents 1,174,000 yuan, CFOs 795,100 yuan, and COOs 753,600 yuan, representing decreases of 3.46%, 3.82%, 0.87%, and 1.12% respectively compared to last year.

The top 10 companies with the highest executive salaries include bio companies Yaoming Kangde (Wuxi AppTec), medical device maker Mairui, solar energy company Tongwei Co., dairy company Yili Co., China’s largest shipping group Zhongyuan Shipping, facial recognition technology firm Zaduo Keji, genome sequencer manufacturer Huada Zhaojia, bio company Meihua Shengwu, biopharmaceutical developer Beijin, and home appliance company Midea Group. Among them, Li Ge, chairman of Yaoming Kangde, ranked first with a salary of 41,968,600 yuan. Li Shiting, chairman of Mairui, earned 26,628,600 yuan, and Li Bin, chairman of Tongwei Co., recorded 26,280,000 yuan, ranking second and third respectively.

Caixin analyzed, "While the national GDP grew by 5.2% year-on-year last year, the salaries of executives in listed companies generally showed the opposite trend." The report explained, "The total number of disclosed equity incentive plans for A-shares was 837 times, a 13.98% decrease from the previous year," adding, "Domestic market confidence has still not fully recovered, and the number of disclosures related to incentives was the weakest in the past three years."