Workers need to labor for 200 years to make what their CEO made in one, AP survey finds
AP News • • business
Key Points:
- CEO compensation packages in 2025 rose nearly 6% to a median of $17.7 million, driven by rewards for higher profits, stock prices, and incentives to retain executives.
- Median employee pay at S&P 500 companies increased 4.7% to $89,744, outpacing inflation, but many workers still struggled with rising costs and debt.
- The CEO-to-median-worker pay ratio widened, with half of surveyed companies showing it would take workers 200 years to earn a CEO’s annual pay, highlighting growing income inequality.
- CEO pay is increasingly tied to stock awards and performance metrics, with notable examples including Elon Musk’s $132.3 billion Tesla package contingent on ambitious long-term goals.
- Bank CEOs received significant pay packages for strategic turnarounds, including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon ($119 million) and Citigroup’s Jane Fraser ($95.8 million), the highest ever for a woman CEO in the survey.