The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu The leading online blog in the fields of corporate governance and financial regulation. Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:08:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.8 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-photography-4-e1706898544564-1-32x32.png S&P 500 CEO Compensation Trends – The Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu 32 32 S&P 500 CEO Compensation Trends https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/04/sp-500-ceo-compensation-trends-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sp-500-ceo-compensation-trends-2 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/04/sp-500-ceo-compensation-trends-2/#respond Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:32:22 +0000 https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/?p=179014?d=20260203162751EST Posted by Aubrey Bout, Perla Cuevas, and Jose Lawani, Pay Governance LLC, on Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Editor's Note:

Aubrey Bout is a Managing Partner, and Perla Cuevas and Jose Lawani are Consultants at Pay Governance LLC. This post is based on their Pay Governance memorandum.

Key Takeaways

  • CEO pay increases moderated in 2024. Median CEO actual total direct compensation (TDC)* reached $17M in 2024, reflecting a moderated 5% increase following a strong 14% increase in 2023.
  • Long-term incentive continues to dominate. Long-term incentives (LTIs) remain the primary driver of CEO compensation, with continued emphasis on performance-based equity, reinforcing alignment with shareholders.
  • Shareholder returns remain strong. This was the third consecutive year of robust total shareholder return (TSR) (+26% in 2023, +25% in 2024 and +18% in 2025). Despite robust returns, CEO pay increased more moderately.
  • CEO pay directionally correlated with TSR. Since 2010, CEO pay has increased at an estimated +5% compound annual growth rate, while TSR over same period has grown at +14% annually.
  • Outlook: Looking ahead, we expect 2025 CEO pay to increase in mid-single digits in 2025, supported by a third consecutive year of strong TSR and financial performance.

*TDC = sum of actual base salary, bonus incentives (based on actual performance), and reported grant date fair value of LTI awards

(more…)

]]> https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2026/02/04/sp-500-ceo-compensation-trends-2/feed/ 0