With a US$6.6 billion annual salary, Elon Musk is again the highest paid CEO in the United States

In a report by Bloomberg, Elon Musk has been crowned the highest paid CEO in the United States for the third time in a row. His annual salary of more than US$6.6 billion is more than twelve times as much as the compensation of Oak Street Health's CEO Mike Pykosz, who was ranked in second place on this year's list with an annual salary of US$568 million.

The gigantic margin between the two best paid CEOs in America perfectly illustrates how ridiculously high Musk's compensation was in 2020. Unlike regular employees, Musk's salary entirely consisted of stock option awards, which massively increased in value due to the skyrocketed stock price of Tesla. After two thirds of Tesla's investors agreed to Musk's opulent compensation package, the California-based electric vehicle maker's market value had increased tenfold in the fiscal year of 2020.

Another well-known CEO in the tech industry has only made it to eighth place on this year's list. The work of Apple boss Tim Cook has been rewarded with just US$265 million, a quite moderate salary in comparison to Musk's. Under Tim Cook's management and thanks to the successful iPhone 12 , Apple has just recently become the most profitable company in the world. It is amusing to notice that if Musk's wish of becoming the CEO of Apple in 2016 had come true, his salary would probably be quite a bit lower these days.

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