Meet America’s Highest-Paid CEO of 2024-It’s Not Tim Cook or Satya Nadella

Jim Anderson, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Coherent, topped the U.S. CEO pay charts in 2024 with a staggering $101.5 million compensation package-making him the only executive to cross the nine-figure mark this year. Anderson, who joined Coherent in June 2024, earned most of his pay from over $100 million in stock awards, alongside a $500,000 signing bonus and just $81,538 in base salary due to his midyear start. His payout surpassed those of high-profile leaders like Starbucks’ Laxman Narasimhan ($95.8 million), Microsoft’s Satya Nadella ($79.1 million), and Apple’s Tim Cook ($74.6 million). Anderson’s windfall highlights the growing role of equity-based compensation in CEO pay, with stock awards now making up nearly 75% of total executive earnings.

 

Source: Yahoo Finance, Times of India, Equilar