Some of the highest-paid CEOs in the U.S. earn more than $1 billion annually.

The highest-paid CEOs don't all lead the world's biggest companies.

According to new research from C-Suite Comp, some chief executives at smaller tech and financial firms are earning more than the top executives at Apple, Blackstone, and other Fortune 500 companies.

C-Suite Comp released its 2023 list of the highest-paid CEOs, taking into account "total compensation granted," which encompasses executives' salaries, bonuses, perks, and stock options, among other elements.

Often, CEOs receive restricted stock or options as a substantial portion of their compensation, the value of which can fluctuate due to the company's performance and market conditions.

In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission mandated that public companies disclose the potential earnings of CEOs by calculating gains and losses in the stock awards that make up a significant portion of their compensation packages.

The new measure of executive earnings, called "compensation actually paid," under SEC rules aims to help stakeholders better comprehend how executive pay aligns with the company's financial performance.

The C-Suite Comp report features two rankings of executive earnings in 2023: one based on "total compensation granted," and another incorporating "compensation actually paid," which takes into account recent fluctuations in the value of current and potential stock holdings.

The compensation of the top-paid CEOs in the U.S. in 2023 is as follows:

In 2023, TPG CEO Jon Winkelried was the highest-paid leader with a compensation package of nearly $199 million, while Harvey Schwartz of the Carlyle Group received $187 million, more than 800 times the median Carlyle employee's compensation.

In 2023, Elon Musk of Tesla was the highest-paid CEO, earning approximately $1.4 billion in compensation.

The Associated Press reports that on June 13, Tesla shareholders approved the restoration of Musk's 10-year pay plan, valued at approximately $44.9 billion.

Tesla's co-founder and longtime CEO were rewarded with an all-stock package for making Tesla the world's top-selling electric vehicle marker and increasing its market value by billions.

Recent data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar shows that CEOs earn nearly 200 times more than the average worker, and their pay increases are consistently higher than those of their employees.

Last year, the median compensation packages for S&P 500 CEOs increased by nearly 13%, while workers experienced a 5.2% increase in wages, slightly above the rate of inflation.

In 2023, the median CEO pay was $16.3 million, while the median S&P 500 employee earned $81,467.

Last year, the pay gap between CEOs and workers increased, which may have discouraged executives from leaving their positions, despite the strong performance of businesses in the stock market, according to Equilar data.

Two of the 21 CEOs in C-Suite Comp's rankings are women, with Sue Nabi of Coty receiving about $149 million in total compensation and Safra Catz of Oracle receiving about $304 million in actual compensation.

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