BOSTON: Median pay for top United States chief executive officers (CEOs) rose 31% last year to a record US$20mil (RM85.1mil), a new study has found, surging after a slight decline during the Covid-19 pandemic, as companies showered leaders with stock awards and cash bonuses.

       Chief executives receiving big pay increases included the leaders of tech giant Apple and semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom Inc, according to the study released Monday by research firm Equilar.

       It covered the 100 largest US companies by revenue that filed proxy statements by March 31. The same study a year ago found median CEO pay was US$15.5mil (RM66mil), 2% lower than in 2020.

       Equilar director of content Amit Batish said companies looked to reward leaders who steered them through challenges like supply shortages.

       Headquartered in Redwood City, California, Equilar is the leading provider of executive compensation data and governance tools for corporations, nonprofits, consulting firms, institutional investors and the media.

       As the data and executive solutions provider to 70% of the Fortune 500, Equilar helps companies accurately benchmark and track executive and board compensation, pay for performance results and compensation practices.

       Rising revenue and share prices also boosted compensation. “A lot of these companies did well during the pandemic, that was definitely driving the increases in pay,” said Batish.

       The higher pay could prompt critical shareholder votes, Batish added, though other investors care more about returns.

       Among S&P 500 companies, average support for advisory votes on executive pay fell to 88.3% last year from 89.6% in 2020, according to pay consultancy Semler Brossy, and was at 85.6% this year so far.

       The trends also pushed up the ratio of CEO pay to the pay of companies’ median workers to 254:1 from 238:1 a year ago, Equilar’s study said.

       It cited executives like Apple CEO Tim Cook, who received US$98.7mil (RM420mil) last year, up from US$14.8mil (RM63mil) in 2020, including a major stock award. That’s a 571% increase in his compensation compared to 2020.

       Investors cast 64% of votes in favour of the pay at the company’s March 4 annual meeting, a low level of support.

       Cook has seen Apple through a slew of firsts including hitting a market cap of US$1 trillion (RM4.25 trillion) in 2018. He also oversaw the release of everything from new versions of the Apple Watch to the company’s expansion into streaming services.

       Apple declined to comment.

       At chipmaker Broadcom, CEO Hock Tan received US$60.7mil (RM258mil) last year, up from US$3.7mil (RM15.7mil) the year before. On April 4, investors cast 80% of votes in favour of the pay.

       Broadcom’s product offerings serve the data centre, networking, software, broadband, wireless and storage and industrial markets. It declined to comment. — Reuters