Median pay for women CEOs was $13.1 million in 2016, up 9 percent from the year prior, according to analysis from executive data firm Equilar and The Associated Press. Male CEOs took home median compensation of $11.4 million, a 9 percent rise from 2015, The New York Times reported.
Equilar's analysis only included CEOs of companies in the S&P 500 index that filed proxy statements with federal regulators between January 1 and May 1. The analysis only included CEOs who have been in their roles for at least two years. Of the 346 CEOs included in the analysis, only 21 — or 6 percent — were women. This is just a slight increase from the 5 percent rate in 2015 and 2014, according to the report.
Virginia Rometty, CEO of International Business Machines Corp., unseated Yahoo's Marissa Mayer as the highest paid woman CEO in 2016. Ms. Rometty earned $32.3 million last year, 63 percent more than she made in 2015. The increase is largely due to the $12.1 million in stock option awards she didn't get in 2015, according to the report. Ms. Mayer, the second-highest earning woman CEO, earned $27.4 million in 2016.
The only black female CEO included in the analysis, Ursula Burns of Xerox, departed from her CEO role in January after the company split in two, according to the report. Ms. Burns earned $13.1 million as CEO last year. She retired as chairman of Xerox's board this week.