A Staggering $226 Billion Salary... Who Became the Highest-Paid CEO in the U.S. Last Year Amid Growing Security Concerns?

Wall Street Journal Analysis Report
Axon CEO Tops the List with $165 Million in Compensation

Rick Smith, the co-founder and CEO of American security company Axon Enterprise, which manufactures products such as the Taser, received approximately $165 million (about 226 billion KRW) last year, making him the highest-paid CEO in the United States.

On June 1 (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported this based on data from research firm MyLogIQ. The WSJ analyzed the compensation of CEOs who had served for at least one year among more than 400 S&P 500 companies that reported their salaries for the 2024 fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, as of mid-May.

Axon Enterprise Rick Smith CEO. Axon homepage

As a result, among S&P 500 CEOs, Rick Smith was the only one to receive more than $100 million in compensation last year. He was followed by Larry Culp, CEO of General Electric (GE) with $88.95 million; Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman of Blackstone with $84.03 million; Tim Cook, CEO of Apple with $74.61 million; and Joseph Bae, CEO of KKR, with $73.09 million. Among them, Joseph Bae, a Korean American, is the co-CEO of the globally renowned private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, the largest bank in the United States, received $37.7 million, ranking 23rd, while Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, ranked 63rd with $27 million. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and the world’s richest person, received no compensation?earning a "zero dollar" salary?due to legal disputes over his performance compensation plan, resulting in the lowest rank. According to the WSJ analysis, half of the CEOs earned at least $17.1 million (about 2.34 billion KRW) last year, which is an increase of approximately $1.3 million (about 170 million KRW) compared to the previous year ($15.8 million, about 2.17 billion KRW).

Outside of the S&P 500, there were also individuals who earned more than $100 million in compensation last year. Peter Gassner, CEO of the cloud computing company Veeva Systems, received $172.4 million, while Tobias L?tke, CEO of Shopify, earned $150 million. This marks the lowest number of CEOs earning more than $100 million in a year since 2016.