Musk-inspired pay deals drive record compensation for US CEOs

NEW YORK CITY, New York: Average pay for S&P 500 chief executives climbed to a record in 2025 as more companies adopted mega compensation packages inspired by Elon Musk’s extraordinary pay arrangements at Tesla, according to a new study.

Excluding the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, average compensation for S&P 500 chief executives jumped 21% to $22.8 million last year, data released Thursday by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations showed. It was the highest figure since the U.S. labor federation began tracking CEO pay in the 1990s.

Labor officials said the increase was driven by a growing number of large compensation plans inspired by Musk’s Tesla package, which could be worth as much as $1 trillion if he meets all possible targets.

Tesla shareholders last November approved a restricted stock plan that the company valued at $158 billion. Including that figure, average S&P 500 CEO compensation reached $340.1 million in 2025, according to the AFL-CIO’s Paywatch study.

Musk’s pay “changes the dynamic when other CEO compensation plans come up, boards use it as a reference,” AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond said.

The average ratio of CEO-to-worker pay at S&P 500 companies increased to 312:1 last year from 285:1 in 2024, excluding Musk’s Tesla compensation. Including his compensation, the average ratio reached 5,387:1.

Redmond said employee wages were being held back by the rise of artificial intelligence and a National Labor Relations Board run by Republicans, whom labor leaders view as hostile to union organizing efforts.

“As we talk to our members, they’re pissed off over what’s happening to them, and they feel as though they should be more vocal in terms of calling attention to inequality,” Redmond said.

Mean annual wages for U.S. workers stood at $69,770 as of May 2025, up 3% from a year earlier, according to Labor Department statistics.

Corporate compensation committees often argue that their pay plans are linked to shareholder value and provide incentives for executives to deliver. Investors, including major asset managers, generally support the plans at annual meetings.

Average support for advisory “say on pay” votes at S&P 500 companies reached 90.6% through late June, according to compensation consulting firm Semler Brossy, compared with 89.4% for all of 2025.

Special compensation awards, however, have attracted greater scrutiny. Semler Brossy described such awards as a “hot-button issue.”

Goldman Sachs paid CEO David Solomon $118.9 million last year, including a major retention award. About 71% of shares cast supported the compensation in an advisory vote.

“We’re very pleased with the strong supermajority this vote received,” Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto said.

Welltower paid CEO Shankh Mitra $821 million in a package intended to include most of his compensation over the coming decade. Only 19% of shares cast supported the pay.

“Welltower’s board and compensation committee remain committed to engaging with shareholders to gather their feedback and understand their perspectives,” a spokesperson said, adding that Mitra would receive the full amount only if he met all performance targets.