The CEOs of the 40 companies in the leading Dax index received an average of 5.7 (2022: 5.1) million euros last year, twelve percent more than a year earlier, according to the annual study presented on Tuesday by the Technical University of Munich on behalf of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW). By contrast, the CEOs in the EuroStoxx50 index - excluding managers in Germany - averaged 6.9 million euros, those in the Swiss SMI even 7.6 million euros and the CEOs in the Dow Jones index of the New York Stock Exchange the equivalent of 24.2 million euros.
With Volkswagen and Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, one DAX CEO broke the "sound barrier" of ten million euros, as DSW Managing Director Marc Tüngler said. Last year, he received a fixed salary, annual bonuses and long-term bonus commitments of 10.32 million euros. The total remuneration calculated by the Technical University of Munich refers to the sums that the CEOs received or were promised for their performance in the past year. However, the long-term bonuses are only paid out after a few years and are often subject to strong fluctuations.
According to the study, Björn Gulden from Adidas follows in second place in the DAX with 9.18 million euros, while Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing is in third place with 9.00 million euros. A further five CEOs earn more than eight million euros.
Of the 30 Dow Jones CEOs, only one remained below the ten million mark: Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy did not receive any bonuses for 2023 and had to make do with his fixed salary. Apple CEO Tim Cook remained the world's highest earner with the equivalent of 58.4 million euros, although his remuneration fell by 41 percent. In Europe, Bernard Charles, the head of the French Dassault Systemes Group, is at the top of the rankings with 46.7 million euros, while the German leader Blume is only in twelfth place.
(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).
