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Stock markets may not reflect the real economy, but sharp gains in stock prices in the U.S. bring more than just a psychological lift for many households. The growth of compensation paid in the form of stock may strengthen the link between labor and real economic pressure.
One of the main puzzles in recent years has been how post-pandemic swings in inflation and rates, as well as political and trade uncertainty, have not steered the broad U.S. economy into a recession. READ MORE
Employee stock compensation is part of the rocket fuel that has boosted SpaceX into orbit. Now SpaceX is about to go public in a much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO). It is expected that the SpaceX IPO will be a historic blastoff making millionaires of thousands of SpaceX employees via their equity awards. Some may even see their wealth go “to the moon,” with net worths climbing to $100 million or more.
The SEC Form S-1 filing for the SpaceX IPO provides some insights into the company’s stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), and other forms of employee equity compensation beyond the more extensive details it had to disclose about grants for its executive officers. READ MORE
It pays big to lead a city — sometimes more than it does to lead the state.
After taking office in January, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, joined the exclusive ranks of mayors who outearn their governors' salaries.
Mayor salaries range widely across the US, from some in smaller towns earning as little as a couple of thousand dollars a year to the six-figure salaries many major city leaders earn. READ MORE
San Francisco voters appeared to reject a ballot measure that would have significantly increased taxes on some large companies with highly paid executives, delivering a win for business groups and technology leaders who argued the proposal could hinder the city's economic recovery.
According to results posted by the San Francisco Department of Elections, Measure D was failing with 53.64% of voters opposed and 46.36% in favor. The measure required a simple majority to pass. READ MORE
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed amendments that would substantially expand the availability of scaled executive compensation disclosure and related proxy voting relief for many public companies. The proposal is part of a broader effort to reduce public-company compliance burdens and make the public markets more attractive. READ MORE
On June 5, 2026, the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2026-36 announcing its intent to issue proposed regulations under Section 4960 of the Internal Revenue Code addressing the significant expansion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of the excise tax on tax-exempt organization executive compensation. The Notice provides important interim guidance on the effective date of the expanded definition of “covered employee” and confirms that the IRS intends to preserve certain regulatory exceptions that protect tax-exempt organizations from inadvertent application of the tax. READ MORE
Compensation threads were once a yearly tradition here at Going Concern many, many, many years ago but at some point Reddit took over the task so we’ve swung over there to grab some details on 2026 compensation at Deloitte. Mainly because salary information is valuable for everyone employed in the field, it lets us know where the market is at. Sad to say the market is at a not very great place right now. READ MORE
After graduating with a bachelor's in computer science in 2023, a software company offered me an exciting job that paid $60,000 a year.
The catch? I had to move away from home. READ MORE
It pays to be a CEO in America. Running a major U.S. corporation carries the intense responsibility of guiding an organization through market disruptions while maintaining financial growth. For CEOs, this pressure comes with lucrative pay packages. The median compensation for the 100 highest-paid chief executive officers in America reached $39.4 million in 2025, marking a 35.8% year-over-year increase.
For 19 years, Equilar and The New York Times have partnered to analyze trends in CEO compensation across corporate America. The Times recently published coverage of new findings from the annual study, highlighting a steep trajectory in corner-office pay. For the purposes of this post, Equilar analyzed just a portion of the findings provided to The New York Times. This post examines the 100 largest CEO pay packages among U.S. public companies with revenues of at least $1 billion and that filed a proxy statement by April 30, 2026 READ MORE
Even among the nation’s best-paid corporate chiefs, Elon Musk stands alone. His compensation last year was a mind-boggling $132.3 billion. That’s not just 2.5 million times what the typical Tesla employee made; it’s 153 times the compensation of the second-highest paid chief executive.
Dylan Field, who heads Figma, an online design platform, was runner-up to Mr. Musk in the rankings. But in terms of wealth created, he was way behind. His pay, $864.4 million, was a mere rounding error for Mr. Musk. READ MORE
CEO pay packages have reached extraordinary levels, and Elon Musk stands far above everyone else with a compensation package valued at roughly $132 billion, The New York Times reports.
Musk’s compensation is almost entirely stock-based rather than salary or cash bonuses, receiving shares only if Tesla achieves a series of ambitious long-term performance targets tied to company value, vehicle production, autonomous driving initiatives and robotics projects. READ MORE
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Friday called on U.S. banks to detect and report identity theft, payroll fraud and other illicit activities tied to people not authorized to work in the United States, following President Donald Trump's executive order last month directing financial institutions to increase their scrutiny of non-citizens' banking activities. READ MORE
Executive pay has not merely risen; it has taken off. In America, bosses of large firms earned 281 times as much as a typical worker in 2024, compared with 21 times in 1965. In Britain, the median FTSE 100 chief executive received £4.58 million in 2024/25, about 122 times the median full-time worker. (2) The Modern Chief Executive has not, despite the best efforts of remuneration consultants, evolved into a separate species.
The better explanation is scale. The largest companies have become bigger, more international and more complex. Their markets cross borders; their balance sheets have acquired extra zeroes; their mistakes can require parliamentary hearings. A boss of a £100 billion firm need not be 100 times cleverer than a boss of a £1 billion firm to be worth much more to shareholders. READ MORE
The 2026 proxy season has officially come to a close, as companies have finished filing their annual proxy statements (DEF 14A) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These disclosures provide a detailed view into executive compensation programs and workforce pay dynamics across the U.S.
This analysis examines fiscal year 2025 proxy statements filed by Equilar 500 companies—the largest U.S. public companies by revenue—to identify emerging trends in executive compensation. By tracking data from 2021 through 2025, the study provides a multi-year perspective on how CEO pay has evolved relative to median employee compensation and explores ongoing developments in gender pay equity among top executives. READ MORE
Foreign hiring has slowed across tech, with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown prompting some firms to reduce H-1B visa sponsorships.
Nvidia, one of the most coveted employers in the field, appears largely undeterred. Federal filings suggest Nvidia is spending aggressively to maintain its lead in the AI race, hiring across both hardware and software roles while also staffing up on customer-facing positions to help deploy its systems widely. READ MORE
New York law firm Milbank said on Tuesday it will increase salaries for its associates to as high as $455,000, likely triggering a wave of similar pay raises among large U.S. firms that traditionally align compensation for junior lawyers to remain competitive.
Milbank's move, which follows an earlier round of raises in the industry in 2023, comes after large law firms posted strong financial results in 2025, though lawyer compensation and investments in technologies like AI have also buoyed expenses. READ MORE
If the big payday is the big motivator for pursing an MBA, the M7s are still showing the money.
A 2025 graduate of Harvard Business School scored a base salary of $470,000 to start, the highest reported salary of any other graduate at any other business school, according to data collected in U.S. News & World Report as part of the magazine’s annual ranking of U.S. B-schools.
At least two more graduates at Columbia Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania earned base salaries of $450,000. READ MORE
Managing executive compensation is a growing challenge for financial services firms, with nearly nine in 10 (89%) saying their in-house technology can’t keep pace with demand, according to new research by CSC, a provider of business administration and compliance solutions.
The research shows that rising complexity, regulatory pressure, and expanding global participation place increasing strain on internal systems and teams. READ MORE
Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors says they are “fully aligned” with President Trump’s call for fiscal discipline.
Their new statement comes following an announcement the energy provider would be making major cuts to executive compensation and leadership positions. READ MORE
Shareholders at Palo Alto Networks Inc. have a recurring beef with the company over how much it pays the chief executive officer and other senior leaders. READ MORE