The Wall Street Journal’s annual CEO pay ranking, based on data from MyLogIQ, found that more chief executives surpassed $50 million in 2025 than in recent years. The analysis included 392 CEOs of S&P 500 companies who had been on the job at least a year and whose companies disclosed executive pay by May 30.
Elon Musk’s $158 billion pay package from Tesla topped the list. The Journal noted that the combined pay of all other CEOs in the ranking would need to be multiplied by roughly 16 to reach the size of Musk’s package. Shankh Mitra of Welltower ranked second at $821 million. The median Welltower employee earned $124,995 in annual income.
Warren Buffett’s 2025 pay consisted of a $100,000 salary plus personal and home security expenses, according to the Journal. Buffett’s 13.7% stake in Berkshire Hathaway meant he also benefited from the company’s 11% share-price gain in 2025.
At Aptiv, CEO Kevin Clark earned about $19 million, while the auto-parts company’s median employee made $10,162. Aptiv said in securities filings that it includes part-time and temporary employees in its median calculation, including significant workforces in countries with wages below U.S. levels.
Only about 20% of CEO compensation was paid in cash — salary and bonus — on average, excluding Musk. The rest came from stock or options. Among industries, media and entertainment companies reported the highest median CEO pay at $53.2 million. Banks and bank holding companies had the lowest median among industries, though some bank CEOs earned far more: Citigroup’s Jane Fraser ranked ninth overall at $95.8 million.
The findings follow a separate analysis by the Wall Street Journal earlier in June that found the number of U.S. CEOs earning more than $100 million in 2025 hit a four-year high.