CEO compensation at S&P 500 companies reached a new record in 2023, according to findings from The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal released its full annual analysis and ranking of S&P 500 CEO pay May 21. The outlet shared findings that the median total compensation for half of CEOs at those large companies reached at least $15.7 million in 2023, a record for the annual survey, with several making more than $50 million. In 2022, median pay, including equity awards and cash pay, for CEOs at the same companies was about $14.5 million, the outlet found through its analysis of data on more than 400 companies from MyLogIQ, a provider of public-company data and analysis.
Most CEOs in the analysis received year-over-year raises of 9% or more. There was little variance in relation to company performance — median total pay for CEOs running companies that recorded the worst returns relative to other companies in the same sector was $14.6 million. Median total pay for CEOs running the best-performing companies was $15.7 million. The pay increases in 2023 are primarily attributed to stock gains.
The Journal article said, "Equity awards continued to make up the bulk of most executives' pay, much of it structured to deliver more stock or options if the company meets financial or share-price performance over several years."
Of the 25 top-paid CEOs, eight lead tech companies, and among the 25 worst-performing companies in the Journal analysis, nearly a third operated in healthcare, including six pharmaceutical or biotech companies.
Here are the 10 top-paid healthcare CEOs, according to the analysis:
Note: These are CEOs under the healthcare and equipment services category.
Joseph Hogan, Align Technology
Total pay: $28.95 million
Peter Arduini, GE Healthcare Technologies
Total pay: $24.51 million
Andrew Witty, UnitedHealth
Total pay: $23.53 million
Robert Ford, Abbott Laboratories
Total pay: $23.27 million
Gail Boudreaux, Elevance Health
Total pay: $21.89 million
Karen Lynch, CVS Health
Total pay: $21.62 million
Joseph Zubretsky, Molina Healthcare
Total pay: $21.49 million
Samuel Hazen, HCA Healthcare
Total pay: $21.32 million
David Cordani, Cigna
Total pay: $21.05 million
Kevin Lobo, Stryker
Total pay: $20.77 million