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Smith leads with a $164M package followed by executives at GE, Blackstone and Apple
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Leading a company is a significant and often difficult job.
One perk of that responsibility is sizable compensation for being a CEO. A new analysis from The Wall Street Journal revealed which CEOs heading up S&P 500 companies had the biggest pay packages in 2024.
The Journal said its analysis looked at MyLogIQ data to rank a total of more than 400 CEOs who had been at the helm of S&P 500 companies for a year or longer.
Of those leaders, the compensation for more than half amounted to at least $17.1 million, though those at the top of the list made significantly more than that.
These are the CEOs who The Journal found to have the highest compensation.
1. Rick Smith - Axon Enterprises
Axon Enterprises CEO and founder Rick Smith speaks during the U.S. Conference of Mayors 91st Winter Meeting at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18, 2023. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Axon Enterprise CEO Rick Smith’s $164.53 million pay package was the only one of the S&P 500 companies last year in which the package was six figures, according to The Journal. Stock awards linked to company performance accounted for the bulk of his 2024 compensation. Axon, which makes Tasers and other products, had a market capitalization of over $58 billion as of Monday.
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2. Lawrence Culp Jr. - GE Aerospace
GE CEO and GE Aerospace CEO Lawrence Culp, Jr., center left, and CEO of GE Vernova Scott Strazik, center right, ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange April 2, 2024 in New York City. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Larry Culp is the CEO of GE Aerospace. The analysis pegged his 2024 compensation at $88.95 million, earning him the No. 2 spot. He became the CEO of General Electric in 2018, several years before the company split into three independent firms.
3. Stephen Schwarzman - Blackstone
Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Blackstone Group Inc., gestures while speaking during a Bloomberg Television interview in London on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Blackstone compensated CEO Stephen Schwarzman about $84.03 million in 2024, The Journal reported. The private equity firm had nearly $1.2 trillion in assets under management as of the end of March. He co-founded Blackstone in the 1980s along with Peter Peterson.
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4. Tim Cook - Apple
Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, on Monday, June 6, 2022. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s $74.61 million pay package included cash, equity and other compensation, according to the Journal. He has been the CEO of the maker of the iPhone, Mac, iPad and Apple Watch since 2011.
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5. Joseph Bae - KKR
Joe Bae, co-chief executive officer of KKR & Co., speaks during the Bloomberg Invest event in New York on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Joseph Bae, one of KKR’s co-CEOs, ranked No. 5 with a $73.09 million pay package. The company generated $21.9 billion in revenue and $3.08 billion in net income in 2024.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AXON | AXON ENTERPRISE INC. | 773.29 | +14.22 | +1.87% |
| GE | GE AEROSPACE | 251.88 | +3.00 | +1.21% |
| BX | BLACKSTONE INC. | 139.38 | +0.39 | +0.28% |
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 204.24 | +0.97 | +0.48% |
| KKR | KKR & CO. INC. | 121.50 | +1.00 | +0.83% |
The business leaders that made up the rest of the 10 highest-paid S&P 500 CEOs in 2024 include Carrier Global CEO David Gitlin, KKR Co-CEO Scott Nuttall, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Simon Property Group CEO David Simon and Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters, according to The Journal.