Microsoft’s Satya Nadella was the highest-paid media CEO in 2024.
Public documents show Nadella’s total compensation—including salary, bonuses, equity awards, and other compensation—amounted to $79.1 million for 2024.
The figure is nearly five times more than what the median CEO who runs a company listed in the S&P 500 received during the same period, according to executive intelligence firm Equilar. The median salary is $16.4 million.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with Netflix’s co-chief executive officers, Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, also earned sums north of $60 million, well above the average for leaders in similar roles.
When comparing CEO compensation to the typical worker’s earnings, Disney’s Bob Iger finished the year with the biggest gap.
In 2024, Iger earned 746 times the median Disney employee salary.
Cook, Nadella, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav also appeared high on the list.
Additional figures from Equilar show the median pay ratio between S&P 500 CEOs and their employees last year was 197:1.
