CEO Pay at Top US Companies Accelerates at Fastest Pace in Four Years—Financial Times

Financial Times reports that CEO pay for the S&P 500 surged 7.7% in 2024, with median packages climbing to $19 million. According to data from Farient Advisors, the jump marked the sharpest increase since 2021 and outpaced both inflation and wage growth for the broader U.S. workforce. Executives at companies like Axon and Starbucks topped the list with multi-million-dollar stock awards, while median worker pay increases lagged behind, fueling debate about inequality and widening pay gaps.

“We’re still seeing executive pay increases above the inflationary rate as well as above typical rank-and-file employees,” said Eric Hoffmann, Chief Data Officer at Farient Advisors. He noted that while shareholder support for pay packages has remained strong, the growing disparities will keep scrutiny high. Farient’s data highlights how persistent pay growth at the top remains a central issue for boards, investors, and policymakers alike.

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About Eric Hoffmann

Chief Data Officer

Louisville, Kentucky
(626) 800-3120
eric.hoffmann@farient.com

Eric leads Farient’s data strategy, operational capabilities, partnerships, research, and client insights. With more than 20 years of human resource technology and data analytics experience, Eric’s work at Farient focuses on creating and delivering information and decision support to boards of directors, human resource professionals, and investors. Combining data analytics and visualization, Eric and his team create compelling narratives that lead to business insight and defensible decisions for his clients.

Eric has extensive experience in executive compensation and performance. From March 2005 to January 2011, he was the Technology Solutions Delivery Leader and a partner at Mercer. In support of Mercer’s compensation and benefits data and analytics business, Eric and his global, cross-disciplinary team delivered leading-edge SaaS-based client-facing and operationally driven data analytics solutions. Before that, Eric was a principal at Mercer, where he led a software development team. Eric holds a BS in computer science and mathematics from Purdue University and an MS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 

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