CEO bonus for the top 10 tech giants soared 400% amid pandemic

The bonuses of CEOs at the top 10 tech companies soared a massive 400 per cent on average during the pandemic between 2020 and 2021, a new report showed on Tuesday. However, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai saw a drop of 14 per cent in his bonuses in 2020 and 2021.

Tan Hock Eng from Broadcom was the highest gainer by a whopping 1,586 per cent, from $3.6 million to $60.7 million, according to data acquired by financial news portal Finbold.

Oracle's Safra Ada Catz ranked the second-highest, with her compensation growing 999 per cent.

"With the tech sector registering significant returns amid the coronavirus pandemic, the industry's executives are also ranking high in compensation," the report said.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger was third with 713.64 per cent gains -- from $22 million to $179 million, followed by Apple's Tim Cook, who recorded a bonus surge of 571.63 per cent -- from $14.7 million to $98.7 million.

Amazon's Andy Jassy finished the top-five category with gains of 491.9 per cent, from $35.8 million to $211.9 million.

Other executives who earned significant perks include Nvidia's Jensen Huang (52.17 per cent), Cisco's Chuck Robbins (9.48 per cent), and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg (5.93 per cent).

Elsewhere, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings recorded a drop in his compensation by 19.68 per cent -- from $43.2 million to $34.7 million and Pichai from Alphabet (Google) recorded a drop of 14 per cent.

Overall, the combined compensation of the selected executives for 2021 was $721.13 million, a 210.88 per cent growth from the 2020's figure of $231.96 million.

"Although the increase in bonuses might be a direct impact of the tech sector's performance in the last two years, the standard justification for allocating high perks is to retain talent amid the pandemic," the Finbold report mentioned.

Some executives are known to create corporate value, and their parent organisation has resorted to compensating them with whatever it takes, it added.

On the flip side, the significant executive payout has reignited the wealth inequality in America.

Recently, US Senator Elizabeth Warren engaged in a war of words with Tesla CEO Elon Musk over the low taxes paid by billionaires.

According to Warren, billionaires should pay forward in taxes to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.

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