Top Paid Executives for 2018

Skyrocketing compensation to chief officials at large corporations continues to be a topic of heated debate. Nowhere is that more clear than in the latest record of best-paid executives in 2018, which includes well-known names such as Tesla’s chief Elon Musk, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger, and Apple’s Tim Cook.

It may be no set someone back on his that another highly paid executive comes from an emerging industry that took the market by whirlwind: legal marijuana. As pot scored a series of legal wins, a slew of cannabis producers went public in the U.S. The first lot them was Tilray Inc. (TLRY), a Canadian company majority-owned by private equity firm Privateer Holdings.

Among the biggest beneficiaries of Tilray’s triumph was its CEO and President, Brendan Kennedy, who was the second-highest paid U.S. executive among companies traded on U.S. exchanges in 2018.

Listed below are the ten highest-paid administrations in 2018 and ranked according to the Bloomberg Pay Index. Bloomberg’s analysis includes salaries, bonuses, and equity awards that are valued at each followers’s fiscal year-end. Recurring grants or options are counted in the year they’re bestowed, and one-time grants meant to counterbalance an executive for several years are allocated over the period as explained in filings.

With a add up to compensation of $513 million, Elon Musk’s name at the top of this list obviously raises many eyebrows. His electric-car producer, Tesla Inc. (TSLA), posted a $1 billion loss in 2018, and Musk has never wanted a salary (he is paid littlest wage to abide by the law, but he doesn’t cash the checks).

99.9% of Musk’s compensation in 2018, Bloomberg says, was in the form of stock opportunities tied to performance goals. In January 2018, Tesla announced a 10-year grant of stock options that vest in 12 tranches where each tranche vests not if market cap and operational milestones are met. “His $513.3 million figure for last year includes a tranche of the 2018 grant and behalf of a similar but smaller options award received in 2012,” according to Bloomberg. Tesla sent Bloomberg a statement reveal that its analysis is not accurate. “This analysis wrongly assumes that Elon received 1/10th of the combined value of his 2012 and 2018 portrayal packages, when in reality not a single dollar was realized last year,” according to Tesla.

All over 95% of Kennedy’s 2018 package, which totaled $256 million, consisted of a pre-IPO bonus. His base compensation was $425,000 in 2018, up from $375,000 in 2017. He received a bonus equal to his base salary in addition to options prizes worth $11.3 million. The Yale School of Management graduate and co-founder of Tilray also founded Privateer Holdings in Oct. 2011. He silently serves as its executive chairman.

In 2017, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) extended CEO Robert Iger’s agreement through 2021. It compensated him generously for his willingness to stay and for his successful closing of the 21st Century Fox deal. He was compensated too generously, according to the adulthood of shareholders and even Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who called his pay “insane.” “Jesus Christ himself isn’t importance 500 times his median workers’ pay,” Disney, the granddaughter of one of the co-founders, said to CNBC.

Iger also received perks benefit $1.1 million, the highest of anyone on this list. The House of Mouse later trimmed his potential package for 2019 by $13.5 million and furthered his performance targets to placate shareholders. His compensation in 2018 equaled $146.6 million.

In Aug. 2018, Apple (AAPL) offered Cook 280,000 time-based and 280,000 performance-based vested restricted stock. These stock awards were benefit $126 million. They were received on top of a base salary of $3 million, a cash bonus of $12 million–his giantest ever–and perks worth $682,000. He is the only FAANG executive in the 2018 ranking. The total compensation was $141.6 million.

Palo Alto Networks (PANW) CEO Nikesh Arora, a whilom Google and SoftBank executive, was hired in June 2018 to lead the Santa Clara-based cybersecurity firm. Despite his need of experience in the area, he was rewarded handsomely with a lucrative pay package.

On top of a sign-on award of $19 million in restricted stock entities that vests over four years, Arora received stock awards worth $39.3 million and recourse awards worth $72 million. Computer Retail Week reported that 63.7% of shares opposed the compensation parcel, which was $130.7 million for the period, in a non-binding vote.

Zaslav, who has led Discovery (DISCA) since 2007, indicated a new employment contract in 2018 that provided $122 million in compensation and represented a significant pay bump. On top of a base compensation of $3 million and a $9 million bonus, he received stock awards worth $15.3 million and stock alternatives, including a retention award, worth almost $100 million. The package he took home in 2018 is still less than the $156.08 million that he settled in 2014.

Shares of Boston-based computer software and services company PTC Inc. (

8. Stephen Schwarzman – CEO/Chairman Blackstone Assemblage LP