Twitter paid CEO Jack Dorsey just $1.40 as his salary in 2018 - and that was a pay rise

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Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who doesn't earn anything from his primary day job.

• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey earned just $1.40 in 2018 to run the social network, according to a company filing late on Monday.
• That represents a pay rise, after Dorsey declined any compensation or benefits for three years running.
• Dorsey also declined equity compensation again in 2018. The company described this as "testament to his commitment to and belief in" Twitter as a product.
• Dorsey isn't poor, since he holds half a billion dollars' worth of Twitter stock and sold shares in his other company, Square.
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Jack Dorsey earns next to nothing for his main day job.

The Twitter CEO took home just $1.40 as his salary in 2018 to run the social network, according to a company filing published late on Monday. He declined all other compensation and benefits for the year.

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The paltry salary is in keeping with previous years, when Dorsey declined to take any payment at all. The $1.40 figure may be symbolic too, given Twitter's origins as a service for posting updates of 140 characters, now extended to 280 characters.

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According to the filing: "CEO Compensation of $1.40. As a testament to his commitment to and belief in Twitter's long-term value creation potential, our CEO, Jack Dorsey, declined all compensation and benefits for 2015, 2016 and 2017, and in 2018 he declined all compensation and benefits other than a salary of $1.40."

Twitter

This doesn't mean Jack Dorsey is poor, however.

He holds more than 16 million Twitter shares, according to a 2017 filing, worth $557 million at the current share price. He also earns money from his second day job as CEO of payments firm Square. He offloaded Square stock through 2018, worth a total of $80 million according to Forbes.

He isn't the only Silicon Valley heavyweight to decline a salary.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg takes an annual salary of $1, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he won't accept a paycheck until his firm hits a $100 billion market cap. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel also earns $1, although he takes stock compensation and other benefits.

The idea behind the low salary is to show these CEOs have faith in their company, and all four are major shareholders in their firms.

Ev Williams, Twitter's cofounder and another major shareholder, did take home more from the company in 2018.

According to the filing, he took $275,000 as his fee in 2018 and sold off Twitter stock through 2018. Twitter announced Williams was stepping off the board in February.

Another board member, British entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, took home $70,000 in fees and stock awards worth $225,000. A third, former Google CFO Patrick Pichette, earned $80,000 in fees and $225,000 in stock awards.

You can see how the rest of Twitter's board was compensated here:

Twitter