By Chris Morris
Median salaries—for everybody—at tech companies are generally higher than other fields. But in some cases, though, the amounts the bosses take home are hundreds—or even thousands—of times higher than even well-paid employees.
As part of Fast Company’s CEO Fair Pay report, we’ve broken out the 15 CEOs of tech companies (as determined by SIC code) who have the highest salary disparity from their median employee. While some of the gaps seem enormous, not one of these CEOs made the list of the 15 least fairly paid CEOs on the Russell 3000. And though many of them make substantial salaries, many of them also include large numbers of overseas employees, which can skew their numbers versus tech companies that employ only highly paid engineers.
Do those CEOs deserve that much of a premium? That’s ultimately for investors to say, but the disparity is becoming a more and more fraught political issue. Here’s a look at some leaders with the largest compensation ratio as compared to their workers.
1: Apple (AAPL)
CEO: Tim Cook
2022 Compensation: $99,420,097
Median employee salary: $84,493
Pay ratio: 1,177:1
The head of Apple—who this year has overseen the launch of the iPhone 15 and preparing for the 2024 debut of the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset—makes just under 1,200 times as much as the median employee of his company. That said, his compensation last year was under $100 million, far less than some other CEOs on this list. His oversized ratio is partially because many Apple employees work overseas or as retail employees in Apple stores, giving the company a lower median salary than many other tech companies.
2: Pinterest (PINS)
CEO: William Ready
2022 Compensation: $239,400,446
Median employee salary: $239,750
Pay ratio: 999:1
Ready’s inclusion on this list is surprising, if only for the short period of time he served as CEO of the San Francisco-based social media site. He was named to the top spot in June of 2022, but still saw compensation nearly 1,000 times that of the median employee. That’s less because of his $400,000 base salary and more due to the 8.5 million stock options he received, along with restricted stock awards.
3: Ebix (EBIX)
CEO: Robin Raina
2022 Compensation: $3,611,452
Median employee salary: $3,829
Pay ratio: 940:1
Raina has run the Atlanta-based software/e-commerce provider (formerly known as Delphi) since 1999. Last year, his compensation was 940 times that of the median employee, most of whom are based in India. (The standard U.S. employee makes 20 times what Indian workers do, making his salary 48 times that of domestic employees.) Up next for the company? The IPO of its EbixCash Indian arm, which is expected to raise $732 million or more.
4: Playtika (PLTK)
CEO: Robert Antokol
2022 Compensation: $57,264,194
Median employee salary: $67,657
Pay ratio: 812:1
Headquartered in Herzliya, Israel, this mobile gaming company became famous for its casino-style games, but is today best known for titles like Best Fiends and a failed attempt to buy Angry Birds creator Rovio Entertainment last year. Despite that, co-founder Antokol earned 812 times the median employee salary (which includes workers outside of the U.S.).
5: Alphabet (GOOGL)
CEO: Sundar Pinchai
2022 Compensation: $225,985,145
Median employee salary: $279,802
Pay ratio: 808:1
Alphabet’s CEO makes 808 times the Mountain View tech giant’s median salary, though the number is a bit deceiving. Last year, Pichai received a triennial equity award, valued at $218 million, making him one of Silicon Valley’s top paid executives. (He last received a stock boost in 2019.) The bump came, however, right before Alphabet began massive layoffs, which irked some investors and employees.
6: Nexsar (NXST)
CEO: Perry Sook
2022 Compensation: $39,318,892
Median employee salary: $57,229
Pay ratio: 687:1
Based in Irving, Texas, Nexstar is the nation’s largest broadcast television group. And with more than 40 years of experience in broadcasting, Sook has touched on many facets of the business. That resulted in him receiving a salary that’s 687 times higher than the average employee, including part-time and temporary workers
7: Cognizant (CTSH)
CEO: Brian Humphries
2022 Compensation: $17,943,894
Median employee salary: $31,450
Pay ratio: 571:1
The CEO of this New Jersey-based offshoring and outsourcing IT giant made 571 times the median salary overall, but less than 200 times what U.S. workers averaged. Of course, that’s little comfort to Indian workers, who saw a ratio of 1,402:1. Humphries won’t have to worry about being on the list next year, though. He was involuntarily terminated without cause in January.
8: 2U (TWOU)
CEO: Christopher Paucek
2022 Compensation: $11,935,832
Median employee salary: $23,243
Pay ratio: 514:1
Paucek technically makes 514 times as much as the median employee, but Maryland-based 2U, which focuses on education technology for colleges, has a large number of temporary and seasonal employees, who sometimes teach just one semester. Excluding those workers, the ratio shrinks to 152:1.
9: DXC Technology (DXC)
CEO: Michael Salvino
2022 Compensation: $20,317,972
Median employee salary: $39,684
Pay ratio: 512:1
2022 saw Salvino not only serving as CEO of the Virginia-based IT company, but also as chairman, a role he assumed in May. That resulted in him earning 596 times what the average worker made. DXC has a presence in 70 countries, however, which impacted the ratio. The company is having a rough year on Wall Street, though: In August, it lost one-third of its value (roughly $1.68 billion) after a big miss in its first quarter fiscal result.
10: Skillz (SKLZ)
CEO: Andrew Paradise
2022 Compensation: $26,423,093
Median employee salary: $52,739
Pay ratio: 501:1
Now based in Las Vegas (after moving out of San Francisco in June), this casual esports company has organized billions of tournaments and distributes millions of dollars in prizes each month. Paradise has overseen the company since its foundation in 2012 and last year took home 501 times the median employee salary. (Half of those workers are outside of the U.S.)
11: Cricut (CRCT)
CEO: Ashish Arora
2022 Compensation: $49,625,708
Median employee salary: $99,280
Pay ratio: 500:1
The CEO of this 50-year-old Utah-based maker of smart cutting machines for home crafters made 500 times the median salary of his employees last year, most of which was in the form of bonuses and stock options. Arora, who started at the company in 2012, now owns more than 13% of the company’s shares, as well.
12: CNH Industrial (CNHI)
CEO: Scott Wine
2022 Compensation: $22,915,662
Median employee salary: $47,208
Pay ratio: 485:1
Almost three-quarters of the employees of this Wisconsin.-based manufacturer of construction and agricultural equipment are based outside of the U.S., and also includes temporary and seasonal help. Wine joined CNH in 2021, after serving as CEO of off-road vehicle manufacturer Polaris.
13: Workday (WDAY)
CEO: Carl Eschenbach
2022 Compensation: $102,685,308
Median employee salary: $233,831
Pay ratio: 439:1
Eschenbach signed on as co-CEO of this Pleasanton, California-based maker of human resources and financial management systems at the tail end of 2022, but still earned a compensation package that was 439 times that of the average employee, due almost entirely to a one-time restricted stock bonus he got upon signing. Before joining the company, he was a general partner at Sequoia Capital and had served on Workday’s board since 2018. (Eschenbach’s co-CEO, Aneel Bhusri, made $17 million last year, putting him at a ratio of 74:1.)
14: Informatica (INFA)
CEO: Amit Walia
2022 Compensation: $33,057,117
Median employee salary: $76,103
Pay ratio: 434:1
Walia joined this Silicon Valley-based cloud-based data management company in 2020—and last year, his compensation was 434 times that of the average employee. That came despite the company being in the midst of a multi-year turnaround that includes converting licensees to its cloud service and a focus on generative AI, specifically its Claire intelligent metadata automation engine.
15: Docusign (DOCU)
CEO: Allan Thygesen
2022 Compensation: $85,035,380
Median employee salary: $196,502
Pay ratio: 433:1
Like several CEOs on this list, Thygesen joined his company last year. So much of his 433:1 ratio comes from signing bonuses and stock options the San Francisco-based electronic signature company offered when he took the job. The company has since beat quarterly estimates and, like so many others, is leaning into AI to extract data in signed documents to help companies evaluate based on expectations.
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