Meet the Highest Paid CEO in S&P 500, Paycom’s $211 Million Man
By: Wall Street Journal
April 6, 2021
Move over, Elon Musk and Tim Cook. There is a new name breaking into the list of the highest-paid chief executives: Chad Richison, the founder and CEO of payroll processor Paycom Software Inc.
The Oklahoma City billionaire last year was awarded compensation valued at $211 million by Paycom, the company disclosed in the annual proxy statement it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.
Mr. Richison’s 2020 compensation was worth closer to $702 million, based on the value of the shares underlying the equity awards, according to an independent calculation by ISS ESG, an arm of proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services.
The 50-year-old executive started the software company in 1998 and has run it since. He is Paycom’s largest shareholder, with a stake worth $3.2 billion. A surge in the stock price landed Mr. Richison on the billionaires list kept by Forbes magazine. Late last year, he signed the Giving Pledge created by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, publicly promising to give away at least half his wealth.
…His 2020 compensation package makes Mr. Richison the highest paid CEO in the S&P 500 based on disclosures so far, according to research firm MyLogIQ. It is one of the five biggest CEO awards since at least 2010, according to MyLogIQ data.
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