With combined annual earnings of over three billion dollars, the 10 highest paid CEOs in the world in 2019 prove that disparity of income is not just a myth, it’s the stark reality facing us today, though the total has been significantly skewed by the one man, who we will reveal later. While we’ve been fed the narrative that only hard work and our will to make something out of ourselves matters, data has shown time and time again that this is not true. The one factor which counts most of all and which has the greatest impact is where we are born. This is one of the reasons why most of the entries in this list are of American CEOs. It might be enlightening, and also frightening of course, for you to learn that the top 1% in the United States have more income than the bottom 90% combined. If that isn’t a sobering thought, well then I don’t know what is.
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One thing is for sure, it definitely pays to be a CEO. However, you might be surprised to find that major names who are CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the world, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page are not features on this list, mainly because they don’t really take a high salary from their company, instead preferring stock options. In fact, Larry Page and Steve Jobs are famous for having had just an official $1 annual salary!
So who is the highest paid person in the world 2019? Well you’ll have to check out our list to find out. The highest paid CEO 2019 has even outearned the other 9 put together! However, if you want to learn about the highest paid CEO in India alone, then that title would go to Mukesh Ambani, owner and CEO of Reliance Industries, who is perhaps more famous for throwing ostentatiously extravagant weddings and building the most expensive home in the entire world. In fact, he is also the richest man in all of Asia, with a net worth of 59.4 billion USD. However, our list consists exclusively of CEOs of US companies. We looked at some of the biggest companies globally and yet the compensations afforded to their CEOs did not compare to the earnings of US CEOs.
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To determine our ranking, we used the data compiled by Equilar, which analyzes pay packages provided to CEOs of public companies with a revenue exceeding at least $1 billion. You might be surprised to find some names you probably haven’t heard of, but I can guarantee that you know the person who tops the list 10 highest paid CEOs in the world in 2019. Also, if you want to compare this list with previous ones, you can also visit 17 highest paid CEOs in the world in 2017. So let’s commence with our list, starting from number 10:
10. Vivek Shah
Annual earnings: $45,062,153
Vivek Shah is the CEO of j2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM). He became the CEO at the start of 2018 and his tenure is still continuing. J2 Global (NASDAQ: JCOM) acquired Ziff Davis in 2012, of which Vivek was the CEO as well.
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