Tech companies accounted for several of the nation's highest-paid public company CEOs in 2022 — although the industry's rocky recent ride in the stock market cut into the actual value of their compensation.
That's one of the takeaways from American Inno's analysis of SEC filings and Bloomberg data, which showed tech CEOs were five of the nation's top 10 highest-paid CEOs in 2022, with several more dotting the top 50.
On the whole, stock prices for tech companies have struggled, meaning many stock awards issued in early 2022 are now worth far less than when they were initially awarded. Of the tech companies with the 50 highest-paid CEOs, the average stock price dropped nearly 35% in 2022.
The analysis included CEOs of software, hardware, semiconductor, biotech and other digital services firms.
The average CEO compensation among the top 50 tech CEOs was $44.4 million. The highest-paid tech CEO last year was Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, whose compensation package topped $225 million.
Pichai was followed by Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy, who was hired by the exercise device maker in February 2022 with a compensation package worth $168 million. Apple CEO Tim Cook, sixth on the list, earned $99.4 million.
The data shows the wide gap between CEO compensation and median employee pay remains. The average ratio of CEO compensation to median employee pay at the 50 companies was 413:1. The CEO to median pay ratios often widely vary — even within the same industry — due to the mix of employees at a company.
Businesses with a significant concentration of workers in the manufacturing or retail sectors often have ratios of more than 1,000 to 1. Companies with a predominantly white-collar workforce or smaller headcounts generally have much lower ratios.
In the list below, American Inno identified the 50 highest paid CEOs of publicly traded tech firms, along with their compensation ratio compared to their company's median employee pay, as well as how the company's stock performed in 2022.
Alphabet
CEO: Sundar Pichai
Pay: $225.9M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 808-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $144.99
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $88.23
Peloton
CEO: Barry McCarthy
Pay: $168M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 2,299-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $35.20
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $7.94
CrowdStrike
CEO: George Kurtz
Pay: $147.7M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 805-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $198.33
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $105.29
Oracle
CEO: Safra Catz
Pay: $138.2M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 1,842-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $87.90
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $81.74
Sarepta Therapeutics
CEO: Douglas Ingram
Pay: $124.9M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 494-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $90.42
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $129.58
Apple
CEO: Tim Cook
Pay: $99.4M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 1,177-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $182.01
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $129.93
Broadcom
CEO: Hock E. Tan
Pay: $60.6M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 338-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $663.32
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $559.13
Alteryx
CEO: Mark Anderson
Pay: $57.2M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 261-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $62.44
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $50.67
Microsoft
CEO: Satya Nadella
Pay: $54.9M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 289-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $334.75
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $239.82
Netflix
CEO: Reed Hastings*, Ted Sarandos
Hastings Pay: $51.07M
Sarandos Pay: $50.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 234-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $597.37
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $294.88
*Hastings stepped down from his co-CEO role in 2023, replaced by Greg Peters.
Twillo
CEO: Jeff Lawson
Pay: $49.4M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 177-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $262.29
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $48.96
DraftKings
CEO: Jason Robins
Pay: $47.5M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 427-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $27.77
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $11.39
Vuzix
CEO: Paul Travers
Pay: $42.9M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 456-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $9.01
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $3.64
Zscaler
CEO: Jay Chaudhry
Pay: $41.5M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 1,842-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $144.99
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $88.23
ServiceNow
CEO: William McDermott
Pay: $38.5M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 174-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $630.14
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $388.27
Biogen
CEO: Christopher Vienbacher
Pay: $34M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 182-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $244.14
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $276.92
VMWare
CEO: Rangarajan Raghuram
Pay: $32.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 236-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $118.20
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $122.76
Cadence Design Systems
CEO: Anirudh Devgan
Pay: $32.2M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 292-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $183.16
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $160.64
Western Digital
CEO: David Goeckeler
Pay: $32.1M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 3,332-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $65.93
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $31.55
OKTA
CEO: Todd McKinnon
Pay: $31.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 80-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $222.66
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $68.33
Advanced Micro Devices
CEO: Lisa Su
Pay: $30.2M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 224-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $150.24
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $64.77
Cisco Systems
CEO: Charles Robbins
Pay: $29.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 249-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $63.16
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $47.64
Micron Technologies
CEO: Sanjay Mehrotra
Pay: $28.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 597-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $95.75
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $49.98
Salesforce
CEO: Marc Benioff
Pay: $28.6M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 157-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $255.46
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $132.59
Intuit
CEO: Sasan Goodarzi
Pay: $27.1M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 133-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $631.47
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $389.22
Meta
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Pay: $27.1M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 91-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $338.54
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $120.34
Uber
CEO: Dara Khosrowshahi
Pay: $24.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 316-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $43.95
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $24.73
NVIDIA
CEO: Jensen Huang
Pay: $23.7M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 109-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $301.21
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $146.14
Calix
CEO: Michael Weening
Pay: $22.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 157-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $77.70
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $68.43
Global Payments
CEO: Jefferey Sloan
Pay: $22.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 385-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $141.70
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $99.32
Analog Devices
CEO: Vincent Roche
Pay: $22M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 544-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $177.15
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $164.03
Autodesk
CEO: Andrew Anagnost
Pay: $22M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 161-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $283.72
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $186.87
Workday
CEO: Chano Fernandez*, Aneel Bhusri
Fernandez Pay: $22M
Bhusri Pay: $18M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 104-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $263.72
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $167.33
* Fernandez stepped down as co-CEO of Workday in December 2022. Carl Eschenbach was named new co-CEO, alongside existing chief executive Bhusri.
PayPal
CEO: Daniel Schulman
Pay: $22M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 284-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $194.94
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $71.22
Ansys
CEO: Ajei Gopal
Pay: $21.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 187-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $395.49
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $241.59
Blackline
CEO: Therese Tucker, Marc Huffman*
Tucker pay: $5.5M
Huffman pay: $21.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 117-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $103.04
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $67.27
*Co-CEO Marc Huffman was succeeded by Owen Ryan in March 2023.
Texas Instruments
CEO: Rich Templeton*
Pay: $21.7M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 323-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $190.60
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $165.22
*Templeton was replaced by new CEO Haviv Ilan in April 2023.
CVENT
CEO: Regie Aggarwal
Pay: $21.2M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 306-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $8.02
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $5.40
HP
CEO: Enrique Lores
Pay: $21M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 302-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $38.02
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $26.87
Motorola Solutions
CEO: Gregory Brown
Pay: $21M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 196-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $267.43
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $257.71
ROKU
CEO: Anthony Wood
Pay: $21M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 77-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $233.19
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $40.70
ADP
CEO: Maria Black
Pay: $20.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 335-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $244.01
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $238.86
DocuSign
CEO: Allan Thygesen
Pay: $20.7M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 87-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $157.01
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $55.42
KLA Corp
CEO: Richard Wallace
Pay: $20.6M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 195-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $435.09
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $377.03
Applied Materials
CEO: Gary Dickerson
Pay: $20.4M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 201-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $159.93
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $97.38
Microstrategy
CEO: Phong Le
Pay: $20.3M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 231-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $558.26
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $141.57
Electronic Arts
CEO: Andrew Wilson
Pay: $19.9M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 172-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $134.95
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $122.18
Moderna
CEO: Stephane Bancel
Pay: $19.4M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 119-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $235.05
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $179.62
NetApp
CEO: George Kurian
Pay: $18.8M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 91-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $92.39
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $60.06
GoDaddy
CEO: Amanpal Bhutani
Pay: $18.6M
CEO-to-worker pay ratio: 223-1
Stock price Jan. 3, 2022: $84.50
Stock price Dec. 30, 2022: $74.82
The stock price data for Sarepta Therapeutics was originally incorrect and has been corrected to reflect its price of $90.42 on Jan. 3 2022 and $129.58 on Dec. 30 2022. A previous version also misidentified the correct CEO for Texas Instruments. The company's CEO in 2022 was Rich Templeton, who was replaced by Haviv Ilan in April 2023.
