20 CEOs who make a typical worker's yearly pay in less than a day

Tue, 04/15/2025 - 04:55

CEOs of Accenture, Apple, and Disney on top of a money collage background. — Accenture CEO Julie Sweet, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Business Wire; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Tommaso Boddi/Variety via Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

How long does it take a CEO to make what workers at their company earn in a year?
BI analyzed the compensation of CEOs and median employees from S&P 500 companies to find out.
For some CEOs at big companies, it would only take several hours.

For some chief executives, it would take about a day to make what a typical employee at their company makes in a year. For some leaders, it would take even less time than that.

We looked at the compensation of dozens of CEOs working for some of the biggest S&P 500 companies to figure out how long it would take them to get to the median employee's annual compensation based on data filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the 2024 fiscal year.

We then ranked the executives from longest to shortest time, rounded to the nearest minute. The CEOs of Starbucks, McDonald's, and several other retail companies ranked high on the list.

Below are the 20 that took the shortest length among the CEOs we looked at.

20: Thermo Fisher Scientific CEO Marc Casper: 21 hours and 46 minutes

People at a booth for Thermo Fisher Scientific — Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $30,449,599

Median worker compensation: $75,643

19. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: 21 hours and 27 minutes

CEO compensation: $79,106,183

Median worker compensation: $193,744

The financial filing said that the company identified the median employee using workers as of the last day of its fiscal year but didn't include people who joined the company as part of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

18. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: 20 hours and 40 minutes

Dara Khosrowshahi holding a microphone — ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $39,408,629

Median worker compensation: $92,958

"Our median employee is an entry level Operations Manager, based in Hong Kong," the financial filing said.

17. Philip Morris CEO Jacek Olczak: 20 hours and 23 minutes

CEO compensation: $20,237,916

Median worker compensation: $47,109

"Approximately 58% of our employees are located in non-OECD countries, which tend to be lesser developed countries with lower wages than OECD countries," the financial filing said.

16. Home Depot CEO Edward Decker: 19 hours and 48 minutes

People and lumber at a Home Depot store — FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $15,574,678

Median worker compensation: $35,196

"Our median-paid associate for Fiscal 2024 was an hourly employee in the U.S.," the financial filing said.

15. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser: 19 hours and 44 minutes

Jane Fraser holding a microphone and sitting in a chair — Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $31,142,602

Median worker compensation: $70,138

"The 'annual total compensation' of our median employee includes salary as of December 31, 2024, overtime pay, other fixed pay, incentive compensation, if applicable, and company-paid benefits," the financial filing said.

14. Chubb CEO Evan Greenberg: 18 hours and 22 minutes

Evan Greenberg talking at a podium — Li Xin/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $30,138,094

Median worker compensation: $63,197

"The median employee is an accounts specialist based in the United States," the financial filing said.

13. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna: 16 hours and 56 minutes

IBM CEO holding a microphone — SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $25,143,682

Median worker compensation: $48,582

12. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta: 16 hours and 17 minutes

Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo — FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $28,814,759

Median worker compensation: $53,551

11. Eaton CEO Craig Arnold: 15 hours and 34 minutes

Craig Arnold, CEO of Eaton — Roger Mastroianni/Getty Images for Eaton

CEO compensation: $22,597,466

Median worker compensation: $40,157

10. American Express CEO Stephen Squeri: 14 hours and 15 minutes

American Express Gold Card on top of a keyboard — Silas Stein/picture alliance via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $37,164,405

Median worker compensation: $60,421

9. Apple CEO Tim Cook: 13 hours and 28 minutes

Apple CEO Tim Cook next to an Apple headset — Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

CEO compensation: $74,609,802

Median worker compensation: $114,738

"We offer a wide range of benefits to our global employee population, and we are committed to paying our employees competitively and equitably based on their role," the financial filing said.

8. Disney CEO Bob Iger: 11 hours and 44 minutes

CEO Bob Iger standing at a blue podium — VCG/VCG via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $41,122,670

Median worker compensation: $55,111

"The median Disney employee works in a full-time hourly role in parks and has been with the Company for over seven years," the financial filing said.

7. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon: 8 hours and 59 minutes

CEO compensation: $26,968,924

Median worker compensation: $27,642

6. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski: 8 hours and 25 minutes

Chris Kempczinski, CEO of McDonald's, wearing a suit next to a screen with burgers and fries — Richa Naidu/Reuters

CEO compensation: $18,195,263

Median worker compensation: $17,492

"Our median employee for 2024 is a restaurant crew employee located in Poland," the financial filing said.

5. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet: 7 hours and 46 minutes

Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture — Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $24,915,146

Median worker compensation: $22,106

"Because of the geographical distribution of our workforce, our compensation program reflects many factors to determine how we compensate our employees in different countries around the world," the financial filing said.

4. GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp: 6 hours and 51 minutes

Larry Culp wearing a suit and talking at an event — Drew Angerer/Getty Images

CEO compensation: $88,954,586

Median worker compensation: $69,553

"As a result of the employee population changes in connection with the spin-off of GE Vernova in April 2024, we determined that a new median employee should be selected," the financial filing said, which also said, "General Electric Company operates as GE Aerospace."

3. TJX Companies CEO Ernie Herrman: 5 hours and 51 minutes

Customers and workers at a T.J. Maxx — Scott Olson/Getty Images

CEO compensation: $22,222,769

Median worker compensation: $14,857

The financial filing said the "median employee for purposes of our pay ratio estimate was a part-time hourly retail store Associate" for the 2024 fiscal year.

2. Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey: 4 hours and 25 minutes

Workers and an assembly line of Coca-Cola bottles — STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $28,002,284

Median worker compensation: $14,144

The financial filing said that "employees in flexible, part-time roles, such as certain employees at retail stores operated by Costa Limited, our coffee business, lower the annual total compensation for our median employee."

1. Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol: 1 hour and 19 minutes

Starbucks cups — Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

CEO compensation: $97,813,843

Median worker compensation: $14,674

"Partners frequently work in flexible, part-time roles, which has the effect of lowering the annual total compensation for our median employee," the financial filing said.

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20 CEOs who make a typical worker's yearly pay in less than a day