Highest-paid CEO of US earns nine- figure salary. It’s not Tim Cook or Satya Nadella; here’s how much he earned in 2024 | Company Business News

When it comes to salaries of CEOs, one would imagine Apple’s Tim Cook or Microsoft’s Satya Nadella take home the highest amount of pay. This notion has, however, been broken with a recent study, which saw that none of the popular CEOs took the highest pay package in the US.

According to a report by Equilar, which had an early look at the highest-paid CEOs of 2024 in the United States, Coherent CEO Jim Anderson is at the top of the list.

The US’ highest-paid CEO, Jim Anderson, has not been much heard about. However, he is the only CEO in the top 10 list whose salary crosses nine figures at almost $101.50 million.

In 2024, Anderson earned a total salary of $101,497,009, according to the Equilar report.

“Topping this year’s rankings is Coherent CEO Jim Anderson, who received a total compensation package of $101.5 million,” it said.

Close behind is Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, awarded $95.8 million following his appointment in September 2024.

However, Anderson may still be replaced as the highest-paid CEO after all the proxy statements of 2024 are filed.

Jim Anderson’s pay package

The study revealed that more than 90 per cent of Jim Anderson’s compensation came in the form of long-term equity awards.

According to Coherent’s 2024 proxy statement, Jim Anderson has a base salary of $1.06 million. But since he joined in June 2024, he received just $81,538 in cash. He was also offered a signing bonus of $500,000 as he joined the company.

But the base salary and signing bonus were just a small part of Anderson’s big fortune.

Coherent’s proxy statement revealed that it paid its CEO over $100,000,000 in stock awards.

Who is Jim Anderson?

James Robert Anderson, also known as Jim Anderson, joined Coherent, a Saxonburg-based company that makes equipment and products for networks and laser systems, in June last year.

The 52-year-old has maintained a low profile. He previously served as a director and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation since September 2018.

Anderson also served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Computing and Graphics Business Group at Advanced Micro Devices.

Anderson served as the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Computing and Graphics Business Group at Advanced Micro Devices.

The Coherent CEO earned an MBA and Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.