For a few CEOs, pay keeps growing—by the billions

Big stock awards have grown much bigger for chief executives of Palantir and Broadcom

- Theo Francis

It is the latest ultraexclusive achievement for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies: the billion-dollar year.

Two bosses made it last year—holding stock-based pay that swelled in value by at least 10 figures in a single year. Alexander Karp clocked more than $6 billion in gains at government intelligence contractor Palantir Technologies. Hock Tan's pay grew by $1.15 billion at chip maker Broadcom.

Only two other S&P 500 CEOs have hit that mark in recent years, according to data from public-company data provider MyLogIQ. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global's Brian Armstrong in 2021, at $2.1 billion, and—naturally—Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO can boast billion-dollar gains in three years, including a record of $43 billion in 2020, though all are part of a pay package that a Delaware court declared invalid. On Sunday, Tesla granted Musk a new, "interim" stock award that it tentatively valued at $23.7 billion, with the promise of more this fall.

The outsize gains, while still rare, show how today's CEO pay packages can swell far beyond their original valuations through a combination of soaring share prices and multipliers tied to company-performance targets. The billion-dollar gains are all the more notable because fewer big-company CEOs have been receiving pay packages initially valued at $100 million or more.