Finance
Battles over CEO pay across the globe
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 5, 2025
5 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 5, 2025
5 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
The article examines global CEO pay controversies, focusing on Tesla's proposed $1 trillion plan for Elon Musk and other notable executive compensation disputes.
(Corrects date in dateline)
(Reuters) -Tesla's board has proposed a historic $1 trillion compensation plan for CEO Elon Musk, contingent on meeting ambitious performance milestones that emphasizes his role in transforming the company into a tech leader.
Earlier this year, Tesla granted CEO Elon Musk 96 million new shares valued at about $29 billion, reinforcing his leadership as he contends with a court ruling that voided his original, shareholder-disputed compensation package.
In 2024, a Delaware judge struck down Musk's 2018 compensation plan - worth more than $50 billion - for a second time, citing a flawed board approval process that failed to protect shareholder interests.
Musk appealed in March, arguing the judge made multiple legal errors. Earlier this year, the automaker said its board formed a special committee to review certain pay matters involving Musk, without providing details.
Below are other CEO pay packages that have faced a tough fight:
Year Company Description
Tesla's board has
Tesla proposed a new compensation plan for
2025 CEO Elon Musk on Friday valued at
about $1 trillion upon achieving
certain lofty targets.
2025 Salesforce As of April 2025, CEO Marc Benioff's
total compensation was $55.1
million, up from $39.6 million last
year, according to a securities
filing.
In July last year, majority of
Salesforce shareholders voted
against a compensation plan for
Benioff and other executives.
2024 AstraZeneca Over a third of AstraZeneca's
investors opposed its 2024 pay
policy, which will boost CEO Pascal
Soriot's remuneration to as much as
18.9 million pounds. It won the
backing, however, of the required
majority of votes.
2024 3M In May, 3M shareholders voted down
the annual compensation packages of
certain executives, including that
of former CEO Mike Roman.
2024 BlackRock BlackRock's executive pay, including
that of CEO Larry Fink, won narrow
support from shareholders, with
about 42% of votes cast opposing
it.
2024 Boohoo UK-based Boohoo Group's bosses
waived their annual bonuses in May
and scrapped plans to raise
executive awards after backlash from
shareholders.
2023 BP Former CEO Bernard Looney had more
than $40 million cut in his
compensation after the British oil
giant concluded he misled the board
over personal relationships with
colleagues.
2023 Telecom Shareholders rejected Telecom
Italia Italia's pay policy after top
investor Vivendi criticized criteria
to award bonus payments to CEO
Pietro Labriola.
2022 Intel Intel shareholders rejected
compensation packages for top
executives, including a payout of as
much as $178.6 million to then CEO
Pat Gelsinger.
2021 Rio Tinto Rio Tinto shareholders rejected the
miner's executive pay packages, in a
backlash over its destruction of
ancient rock shelters in Western
Australia the previous year.
2021 McDonald's Former CEO Steve Easterbrook agreed
to return compensation worth $105
million in equity awards and cash to
settle a lawsuit over alleged lies
about affairs.
2021 GE GE shareholders rejected executives'
compensation packages, including a
payout of as much as $230 million to
CEO Larry Culp.
2021 Morrisons Investors in the British supermarket
group overwhelmingly rejected its
pay report in 2021.
2021 Halliburton More than half of Halliburton's
shareholders voted against its
proposed executive compensation
plan.
2021 UniCredit The Italian bank's boss, Andrea
Orcel, narrowly avoided a
shareholder revolt against his pay
package, securing only 54% of votes
at a general meeting after top
investor BlackRock voted against it.
2019 CBS CBS Corp fired Leslie Moonves for
cause and denied a $120 million
severance package after the former
chief executive was accused of
sexual harassment and assault that
allegedly took place before and
after he joined the company.
2017 Uber Travis Kalanick, Uber's co-founder
and CEO, was forced to resign after
a series of scandals plagued the
company, including allegations of
sexual harassment and a toxic
workplace culture. Shareholders
later sued the board, alleging it
failed to properly oversee Kalanick
and allowed the scandals to occur.
2017 Equifax After a massive data breach exposed
millions of customers' personal
information, Equifax's CEO received
significant criticism for his
handling of the crisis and a hefty
bonus. Shareholders filed suit
alleging the board failed to
properly oversee the CEO.
2017 BP BP cut CEO Bob Dudley's 2016 pay
package by 40% after a wave of
shareholder revolts.
2016 Viacom A shareholder lawsuit claimed that
Viacom and CBS Corp's executive
chairman, Sumner Redstone, was
improperly paid millions though "he
was physically and mentally
incapacitated."
2011 Occidental Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray
Petroleum Irani was criticized for excessive
pay after his compensation grew 40%
in 2009 to $31.4 million.
Shareholders pushed for board
seats.
2002 Worldcom After an accounting scandal that led
to financial fraud, shareholders
sued the company over excessive
compensation awarded to executives,
including the CEO.
(Reporting by Priyanka.G, Anuja Bharat Mistry, Anchal Rana, Yadarisa Shabong, Jaspreet Singh, Harshita Mary Varghese, Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni, Devika Syamnath, Matthew Lewis, Miral Fahmy, Sriraj Kalluvila, Maju Samuel and Anil D'Silva)
CEO compensation refers to the total remuneration provided to a Chief Executive Officer, including salary, bonuses, stock options, and other benefits.
Performance milestones are specific targets or goals that a company sets for its executives to achieve, often linked to compensation packages.
Explore more articles in the Finance category
