U.S. executive pay among C-Suite executives has been analyzed and compared. The highest compensation is given to CEOs, who receive an average of $9.7 million, which includes salary, bonuses, stock awards, and options. The second-highest-paid executive is the Chief Technology Officer, who receives $3.8 million.
In third place, the Chief Operating Officer, typically the second-in-command, earns almost $3.8 million. CFOs are in fourth place, with a total compensation of $3.4 million. Nevertheless, CFOs can take comfort in knowing that they earn more than Chief Marketing Officers ($2.6 million) and General Counsel ($2.5 million). Although CEOs earn 2.8 times more than CFOs, the gap is narrowing. CFOs’ compensation increased by 1% in 2022 and early 2023, while CEOs’ compensation decreased by 6%.
The CFO role remains an essential pipeline for future CFOs–18 CFOs have been promoted to CEO in the latest fiscal year. Although CFOs are generally paid less than their CTO or COO counterparts, the highest-paid CFOs receive exceptional compensation. According to the complete compensation data for 2022, Joe Berchtold, the CFO of entertainment group LiveNation, is the highest-paid CFO in the US, earning a total of $52.4 million.
This caps a successful year for the entertainment concert company, as its CEO, Michael Rapino, also received the highest earnings for a chief executive in the US, at $139 million. Joe Berchtold’s compensation also includes perks such as $38,585 worth of tickets to certain sporting industry events.
Michael J Cavanagh, who worked for NBC Universal-owned Comcast, earned $41 million in compensation in 2022, placing him second. In 2023, Cavanagh moved into the role of President of the company, and Jason S. Armstrong became CFO. Most CFOs in the top 20 highest pay brackets hold finance positions at well-known companies such as Walmart, Apple, and Intel. The new Meta CFO, Susan Li, immediately broke into the top 20.
Other CFOs who are seeing an increase in their compensation work at less high-profile companies, such as Jeffrey Lee, CFO at Cornerstone Building Brands. His compensation increased by 483% year-over-year, placing him in the top 20 highest-paid CFOs, earning $18 million. Cameron Hyzer, CFO at Zoom info, which provides specialized lead information for businesses, achieved $18 million in compensation despite a 77% decrease from the previous year. Rich Bressler, CFO at Heartmedia, also earned $15.5 million in compensation, a 103% increase from the previous year, while Gianluca Romano, CFO of Seagate Technology, earned $15 million after a 156% increase.
Highest-paid CFOs at US Companies in 2023
- Joe Berchtold, the CFO of LiveNation: $52.4 million
- Michael J Cavanagh, NBC Universal: $41 million
- John D. Rainey of Walmart: $40 million
- Luca Maestri of Apple Inc: $27 million
- Amy Hood of Microsoft: $26 million
- Ruth Porat of Alphabet: $24 million
- Dave Denton of Pfizer: $24 million
- Gary Swidler of Match Group: $24 million
- Denis Coleman of Goldman Sachs: $24 million
- David Zinsner of Intel Corporation: $20 million
- Tracey Thomas Travis of The Estée Lauder Companies: $20 million
- Brian T. Olsavsky of Amazon: $18 million
- Jeff Lee of Cornerstone Building Brands: $18 million
- Cameron Hyzer of ZoomInfo: $17 million
- Spencer Neumann of Netflix: $15.8 million
- John Rex of UnitedHealth Group: $15.7 million
- Amy Weaver of Salesforce: $15.5 million
- Rich Bressler of iHeartMedia: $15.5 million
- Susan Li of Meta: $15.2 million
- Gianluca Romano of Seagate Technology: $15 million
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