How The Associated Press and Equilar Determined CEO Compensation

The Associated Press looked at how much money CEOs make each year. They got this information from Equilar, a company that collects data about executives. Equilar checked documents that show how much 341 CEOs get paid. To figure out a CEO's pay, Equilar adds up their salary, bonus, perks, stock awards, stock options, and other payments. Stock awards can be based on time or performance. Time-based awards mean CEOs have to wait to get them, while performance-based awards depend on meeting certain goals. These awards are given to link the CEO's pay to how well the company is doing. Equilar calculates the value of stock and option awards based on the day they are given, as shown in the company's records. The actual value of these awards in the future can be very different from what the company estimates. Equilar found that the median pay for CEOs in 2023 was $16.3 million. The Associated Press focuses on median numbers, so the different parts of a CEO's pay do not add up to the total amount. Here is a breakdown of the CEO pay components: - Base salary: $1.3 million, increased by 4% - Bonus and performance-based cash awards: $2.5 million, increased by 2.7% - Perks: $258,645, increased by 12.6% - Stock awards: $9.4 million, increased by 10.7% - Option awards: $0 (More than half of the companies did not give any option awards) - Total pay: $16.3 million, increased by 12.6%.