Change in CEO compensation and components, 2016–2019
| Average annual compensation (millions) | Components of compensation (millions) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock awards | Stock options: | |||||||||
| Year | Realized pay | Granted pay | Salary | Bonus | Nonequity incentives | Stock awards, vested | Stock awards, fair value granted | Options, value realized | Options, fair value granted | Stock-related realized items |
| (1)=3+4+5+6+8 | (2)=3+4+5+7+9 | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | (9) | (10)=6+8 | |
| CEO compensation levels (2019$) | ||||||||||
| 2016 | $17.005 | $12.723 | $1.339 | $0.360 | $2.873 | $7.259 | $6.594 | $5.175 | $1.557 | $12.433 |
| 2017 | $18.954 | $12.137 | $1.320 | $0.344 | $2.978 | $7.406 | $6.055 | $6.906 | $1.441 | $14.313 |
| 2018 | $18.663 | $13.339 | $1.305 | $0.254 | $3.020 | $8.490 | $7.276 | $5.594 | $1.484 | $14.084 |
| 2019 projected | $21.283 | $14.487 | $1.325 | $0.337 | $2.901 | $10.149 | $8.455 | $6.571 | $1.492 | $16.720 |
| 2018 FH | $17.933 | $12.881 | $1.276 | $0.254 | $2.912 | $8.261 | $6.958 | $5.230 | $1.481 | $13.491 |
| 2019 FH | $20.450 | $13.990 | $1.273 | $0.324 | $2.788 | $9.752 | $8.164 | $6.314 | $1.441 | $16.066 |
| Composition of realized pay | ||||||||||
| 2016 | 100.0% | — | 7.9% | 2.1% | 16.9% | 42.7% | — | 30.4% | — | 73.1% |
| 2017 | 100.0% | — | 7.0% | 1.8% | 15.7% | 39.1% | — | 36.4% | — | 75.5% |
| 2018 | 100.0% | — | 7.0% | 1.4% | 16.2% | 45.5% | — | 30.0% | — | 75.5% |
| 2019 projected | 100.0% | — | 6.2% | 1.6% | 13.6% | 47.7% | — | 30.9% | — | 78.6% |
| 2019 FH | 100.0% | — | 6.2% | 1.6% | 13.6% | 47.7% | — | 30.9% | — | 78.6% |
| 2018 FH | 100.0% | — | 7.1% | 1.4% | 16.2% | 46.1% | — | 29.2% | — | 75.2% |
| Change, 2017–2018 | ||||||||||
| Level | -$0.292 | $1.202 | -$0.015 | -$0.090 | $0.042 | $1.084 | $1.221 | -$1.313 | $0.044 | -$0.229 |
| Percentage | -1.5% | 9.9% | -1.1% | -26.1% | 1.4% | 14.6% | 20.2% | -19.0% | 3.0% | -1.6% |
| Change, 2018–2019 | ||||||||||
| Level | $2.620 | $1.148 | $0.020 | $0.083 | -$0.119 | $1.659 | $1.179 | $0.977 | $0.008 | $2.636 |
| Percentage | 14.0% | 8.6% | 1.5% | 32.6% | -3.9% | 19.5% | 16.2% | 17.5% | 0.5% | 18.7% |
| Change, 2016–2019 | ||||||||||
| Level | $4.277 | $1.765 | $0.014 | -$0.023 | $0.028 | $2.890 | $1.861 | $1.396 | -$0.065 | $4.286 |
| Percentage | 25.2% | 13.9% | -1.0% | -6.5% | 1.0% | 39.8% | 28.2% | 27.0% | -4.2% | 34.5% |
Notes: CEO average annual compensation is measured for CEOs at the top 350 U.S. firms ranked by sales. Two measures are computed, differing in the treatment of stock options and stock awards. Both include salary, bonus, and long-term incentive payouts. The “granted compensation” measure includes the value of stock options and stock awards when they were granted. The “realized compensation” measure includes “stock options exercised” and “vested stock awards,” both of which capture the value realized beyond the value when options or stock awards are granted. Projected value for 2019 is based on the percent change in CEO pay in the samples available in June 2018 and in June 2019 (labeled first-half [FH] data) applied to the full-year 2018 value.
Source: Authors’ analysis of data from Compustat’s ExecuComp database, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Employment Statistics data series, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis NIPA tables.
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