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US highest paid CEO earns more than Tim Cook, Bob Iger, Satya Nadella; Who is he?
Jim Anderson, the CEO of Coherent, has earned the spot of the US's highest-paid CEO rankings.
Jim Anderson, the CEO of Coherent, has earned the spot of the US's highest-paid CEO rankings, with an annual salary package of $101.5 million for 2024.
According to a market research firm, Anderson, who assumed leadership of the Pennsylvania-based business in June 2024, defeated well-known figures like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ($34.17 million), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella ($79.1 million), Apple CEO Tim Cook ($74.6 million), Disney CEO Bob Iger ($40.6 million), and Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan ($95.8 million).
As per the Equilar 100 list, which monitors CEO remuneration for US public businesses with annual revenue above $1 billion, Anderson was the sole executive on the list to surpass the coveted nine-digit amount.
Even more astounding is the fact that luxurious benefits and a high income weren't the driving forces for this enormous compensation. Anderson received stock awards for almost all of his earnings (99.4%), which is evidence of the expanding trend of tying executive compensation to long-term shareholder value and business performance.
Who is Jim Anderson? CEO of Coherent since 2024
Anderson's ascent to prominence is not coincidental. He joined Coherent Corp. in the middle of 2024 after stepping down from his position as CEO of Lattice Semiconductor, where his direction had a significant impact on the stock performance of the firm.
Lattice's stock fell 16 percent after he left the firm, indicating investor apprehension. However, the stock price of the company increased by an astonishing 23% when Anderson's transfer to Coherent was announced. This increase implies that Wall Street thinks Anderson will succeed at Coherent in the same way that he did at Lattice.
Did Sundar Pichai and Brian Niccol steal any spot at highest-paid CEOs list?
Notably, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, is not listed among the top 100. In its 2025 Proxy Statement, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, disclosed Pichai's 2024 earnings.
Pichai's total remuneration for 2024 is $10.72 million, which is a substantial drop from his $226 million profits in 2022. This is mostly because Pichai did not receive the triennial stock award during the prior reporting period.
With $95.8 million in total payment in 2024, Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol ranked second on the list of highest-paid CEOs. Similar to Anderson, Niccol received more than 90% of his income in the form of stock-based incentives. After taking over the role in September 2024, Niccol proved that he can increase the company's worth.
