U.S. CEO pay soars 31% on stock and cash awards, study finds

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Item 1 of 2 Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
[1/2]Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
BOSTON, April 18 (Reuters) - Median pay for top U.S. CEOs rose 31% last year to a record $20 million, a new study found, surging after a slight decline during the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies showered leaders with stock awards and cash bonuses.
Chief executives receiving big pay increases included the leaders of tech giant Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab and semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc, (AVGO.O), opens new tab, according to the study released Monday by research firm Equilar.
It covered the 100 largest U.S. companies by revenue that filed proxy statements by March 31. The same study a year ago found median CEO pay was $15.5 million, 2% lower than in 2020.
Equilar director of content Amit Batish said companies looked to reward leaders who steered them through challenges like supply shortages. Rising revenue and share prices also boosted compensation. "A lot of these companies did well during the pandemic, that was definitely driving the increases in pay," he said.
The higher pay could prompt critical shareholder votes, Batish added, though other investors care more about returns. Among S&P 500 companies, average support for advisory votes on executive pay fell to 88.3% last year from 89.6% in 2020, according, opens new tab to pay consultancy Semler Brossy, and was at 85.6% this year so far.
The trends also to pushed up the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of companies' median workers to 254:1 from 238:1 a year ago, Equilar's study said.
It cited executives like Apple CEO Tim Cook, who received $98.7 million last year, up from $14.8 million in 2020, including a major stock award. Investors cast 64% of votes in favor of the pay at the company's March 4 annual meeting, a low level of support. read more
Apple declined to comment.
At chipmaker Broadcom, CEO Hock Tan received $60.7 million last year, up from $3.7 million the year before. On April 4, investors cast 80% of votes in favor of the pay.
Broadcom declined to comment.

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Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Ross Kerber is U.S. Sustainable Business Correspondent for Reuters News, a beat he created to cover investors’ growing concern for environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and the response from executives and policymakers. Ross joined Reuters in 2009 after a decade at The Boston Globe and has written on topics including proxy voting by the largest asset managers, the corporate response to social movements like Black Lives Matter, and the backlash to ESG efforts by conservatives. He writes the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter.

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