The US CEO Remuneration Report 2025: the Dow 30, decoded.
$38.2M mean CEO pay, a say-on-pay and CEO-to-worker pay-ratio deep-dive, and the new Layoffs-to-Equity Ratio linking CEO equity to AI-driven job cuts — the first practitioner-led, methodology-transparent analysis of US large-cap executive pay for institutional investors.
The Layoffs-to-Equity Ratio — mean 14.4×, up to 97× at Boeing. Six Dow CEOs cited AI for ~36,700 job cuts while taking ~$293M in equity.
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PDF · ~50 pages · no costA methodology-transparent read on Dow 30 pay.
Built from FY2025 DEF 14A proxy filings under Item 402 of Regulation S-K, framed for institutional investors who must vote, engage, or invest across the US large-cap universe.
Full CEO pay rankings
Salary, cash variable, stock & option awards and total pay for all 30 Dow constituents, ranked and side by side.
Say-on-pay outcomes & dissent
Support across the index (88.3% average) and where opposition clustered — Goldman Sachs at 70.6%, below the 80% engagement threshold.
Compensation structure analysis
The pay mix decoded: stock awards ~60% of total pay (Top 20), cash salary just 6%, cash variable ~11%.
Layoffs-to-Equity & CEO Equity-as-Years
Two proprietary frameworks: the LER (mean 14.4×, up to 97× at Boeing) and the CEY ratio linking equity to worker years.
CEO-to-median-worker pay ratios
Dodd-Frank §953(b) ratios in full — reaching 1,739:1 at Coca-Cola and 1,082:1 at McDonald's.
Top-5 CEO case studies & framework
Deep-dives on the five highest-paid CEOs, plus the US regulatory framework and a France-vs-US methodological note.
The signals that define Dow 30 pay in FY2025.
Sourced figures across the 28 Dow constituents with usable FY2025 data.
Source: FY2025 DEF 14A filings · Item 402, Reg S-K · equity at ASC 718 grant-date fair value.
The five highest-paid CEOs on the Dow.
FY2025 total compensation, from each issuer's Summary Compensation Table.
- 1David SolomonGoldman Sachs$118.9M
- 2Satya NadellaMicrosoft$96.5M
- 3Tim CookApple$74.3M
- 4Stephen HemsleyUnitedHealth Group$60.9M
- 5Chuck RobbinsCisco Systems$52.8M
Solomon's total is inflated by an $80M five-year retention RSU grant; Hemsley's by a $60M option grant on his May 2025 return as CEO — both at ASC 718 grant-date fair value. Full case studies inside the report.
European institutional investors have had detailed annual remuneration analyses for two decades — but no equivalent practitioner-led, methodology-transparent read existed for the US large-cap universe. This report adapts that European stewardship structure to US disclosure conventions, so you can walk into an engagement or a vote across both markets knowing exactly where a company stands.
Amine GharbyFounder & CEO, engage insights · former Glass Lewis DirectorRead the full US CEO Remuneration Report 2025.
Free PDF, delivered to your inbox. Volume I of engage insights' annual US executive remuneration series — the Nasdaq-100 follows in Volume II.
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