About this page
Company money from SEC XBRL data: cash spent buying back the company's own shares, and what chief executives were paid compared with how the stock did.
How to read it
- Buyback
- When a company uses its cash to buy its own shares, so each remaining share owns a bigger piece.
- Pay actually paid
- The SEC's measure that counts stock awards at their changing value, so it rises and falls with the share price.
- Shareholder return
- What $100 invested in the stock grew or shrank to over the period.
A real example
In May 2024 Apple's board approved up to $110 billion of share buybacks, the largest such approval announced by a U.S. company.
Explain it like I'm 13
If a lemonade stand owned by the whole class uses its money to buy back some shares, everyone left owns a bigger slice. CEO pay is how much the stand pays its manager, and it is fair to check whether the stand did well that year.
Data from public SEC filings and congressional reports. Information, not investment advice. Check every number against the filing linked on the page.
CEO Pay and Performance
Every year, U.S. public companies must show what their chief executive was paid and how the stock did. Here are those numbers side by side.
Highest reported CEO pay in 2025
| Stock | Reported pay | Actually paid | Shareholder return |
|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA Tesla, Inc. | $158.4B | $10.4B | n/a |
| LMAT LEMAITRE VASCULAR INC | $3.78B | $4.21B | n/a |
| AOUT American Outdoor Brands, Inc. | $1.84B | -$408.6M | n/a |
| UHAL U-Haul Holding Co /NV/ | $1.02B | $992.9M | n/a |
| WELL WELLTOWER INC. | $821.1M | $999.6M | n/a |
| OPEN Opendoor Technologies Inc. | $741.1M | $428.5M | n/a |
| OPENW Opendoor Technologies Inc. | $741.1M | $428.5M | n/a |
| OPENL Opendoor Technologies Inc. | $741.1M | $428.5M | n/a |
| RIVN Rivian Automotive, Inc. / DE | $402.6M | $443.2M | n/a |
| CRWD CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. | $247.6M | $330.3M | n/a |
| APLD Applied Digital Corp. | $189.2M | $458.8M | n/a |
| WBD Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. | $165.0M | $636.1M | n/a |
| PANW Palo Alto Networks Inc | $99.7M | $267.5M | n/a |
| CHYM Chime Financial, Inc. | $98.9M | $83.5M | n/a |
| MSFT MICROSOFT CORP | $96.5M | $131.1M | n/a |
| GEN Gen Digital Inc. | $83.6M | $33.5M | n/a |
| SAIL SailPoint, Inc. | $80.1M | $87.7M | n/a |
| TMO THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. | $79.9M | $116.1M | n/a |
| AON Aon plc | $73.7M | $82.2M | n/a |
| ARES Ares Management Corp | $68.3M | $52.5M | n/a |
| TKO TKO Group Holdings, Inc. | $67.4M | $102.2M | n/a |
| NET Cloudflare, Inc. | $60.6M | $97.7M | n/a |
| GRND Grindr Inc. | $56.2M | $33.3M | n/a |
| NOW ServiceNow, Inc. | $51.6M | -$83.3M | n/a |
| CRM Salesforce, Inc. | $49.4M | -$49.2M | n/a |
| FLEX FLEX LTD. | $44.4M | $169.4M | n/a |
| TEM Tempus AI, Inc. | $41.5M | $67.9M | n/a |
| JPM JPMORGAN CHASE & CO | $40.6M | $246.8M | n/a |
| LRCX LAM RESEARCH CORP | $40.4M | $320.6M | n/a |
| NXST NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP, INC. | $39.5M | $46.5M | n/a |
| WULF TERAWULF INC. | $39.4M | $60.3M | n/a |
| VG Venture Global, Inc. | $39.1M | $39.1M | n/a |
| BLK BlackRock, Inc. | $37.7M | $55.8M | n/a |
| LBTYA Liberty Global Ltd. | $37.7M | $22.6M | n/a |
| LBTYK Liberty Global Ltd. | $37.7M | $22.6M | n/a |
| LASR NLIGHT, INC. | $37.3M | $88.6M | n/a |
| WAY Waystar Holding Corp. | $37.1M | $18.7M | n/a |
| OKTA Okta, Inc. | $36.8M | $15.7M | n/a |
| CSGP COSTAR GROUP, INC. | $36.4M | $33.2M | n/a |
| NVDA NVIDIA CORP | $36.3M | $162.2M | n/a |
| NKE NIKE, Inc. | $36.3M | $19.3M | n/a |
| PAY Paymentus Holdings, Inc. | $35.6M | $37.0M | n/a |
| UBER Uber Technologies, Inc | $35.6M | $66.7M | n/a |
| MA Mastercard Inc | $35.4M | $35.7M | n/a |
| BKNG Booking Holdings Inc. | $35.4M | $64.8M | n/a |
| CMCSA COMCAST CORP | $35.1M | $13.7M | n/a |
| DRI DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC | $34.8M | $34.8M | n/a |
| TPR TAPESTRY, INC. | $34.0M | $134.5M | n/a |
| WSM WILLIAMS SONOMA INC | $33.3M | $56.2M | n/a |
| EXEL EXELIXIS, INC. | $33.2M | $55.1M | n/a |
Biggest gaps between reported and actual pay
"Actually paid" counts stock awards at their value at year end, so it rises and falls with the share price. A big negative number usually means the stock fell after the awards were granted.
| Stock | Reported | Actually paid | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | $158.4B | $10.4B | -$148.0B |
| SMR | $4.08M | $33.1B | +$33.1B |
| PLTR | $8.62M | $11.1B | +$11.1B |
| AOUT | $1.84B | -$408.6M | -$2.25B |
| HOOD | $3.00M | $1.02B | +$1.02B |
| TTD | $27.4M | -$856.8M | -$884.2M |
| STUB | $4.53M | -$575.0M | -$579.5M |
| WBD | $165.0M | $636.1M | +$471.1M |
| LMAT | $3.78B | $4.21B | +$424.6M |
| BE | $3.50M | $416.3M | +$412.8M |
| ROIV | $3.10M | $382.4M | +$379.3M |
| OPEN | $741.1M | $428.5M | -$312.7M |
| OPENW | $741.1M | $428.5M | -$312.7M |
| OPENL | $741.1M | $428.5M | -$312.7M |
| RDDT | $3.10M | $307.4M | +$304.3M |
| CLS | $17.4M | $320.8M | +$303.4M |
| LRCX | $40.4M | $320.6M | +$280.3M |
| WSO | $834K | -$272.1M | -$272.9M |
| APLD | $189.2M | $458.8M | +$269.6M |
| DASH | $432K | $238.5M | +$238.0M |
| MPWR | $19.9M | $250.2M | +$230.2M |
| JPM | $40.6M | $246.8M | +$206.2M |
| GOOGL | $10.9M | $213.9M | +$203.0M |
| GOOG | $10.9M | $213.9M | +$203.0M |
| GOOGM | $10.9M | $213.9M | +$203.0M |
Examples
The rule. In August 2022 the SEC adopted its pay-versus-performance rule. Starting with 2023 proxy statements, companies had to add a table showing the CEO's reported pay, the "compensation actually paid," and the company's total shareholder return. That table is where these numbers come from.
Tesla. Elon Musk's 2018 stock award was reported as one of the largest pay packages ever. In January 2024 a Delaware judge voided it, and in June 2024 Tesla shareholders voted to approve it again. Cases like this are why reported pay and the value a CEO ends up with can be very different.
Explain it like I'm 13
Imagine a team captain is promised 100 trading cards, but the cards are paid in a type of card whose value goes up and down. "Reported pay" is what the cards were worth on the day they were promised. "Actually paid" is what they are worth at the end of the year. If the team did badly, the cards may be worth much less.
From the pay-versus-performance table in each company's proxy statement (XBRL tags PeoTotalCompAmt, PeoActuallyPaidCompAmt and TotalShareholderRtnAmt). Shareholder return is the value of $100 invested at the start of the period the company reports. Only companies we track and that tag this table appear.