Updated April 2026 · SEC DEF 14A data
CEOs Who Took Pay Cuts, 2024
The 5 U.S. public-company CEOs whose reported total compensation declined most sharply year-over-year, ranked by percentage change. The top 10 average a -13.7% drop — roughly $3.3M less in reported pay than the prior year. Pay cuts here are SEC-reported reductions in disclosed total compensation, not always voluntary givebacks.
What's Behind the Biggest Pay Cuts
The largest reported pay cuts are almost always structural rather than punitive. The most common cause is the absence of a prior-year special equity grant. When a CEO receives a multi-year RSU or PSU mega-grant in one year, the entire grant-date fair value lands on the Summary Compensation Table for that year. The next year, when only the normal annual award is granted, reported total compensation can drop by 50% or more even though the underlying pay structure is unchanged. The second most common cause is performance-share-unit non-vesting — when PSU performance hurdles are missed, those awards do not count as compensation in the year they would have vested.
Pension-value swings move the line in either direction. A rise in the discount rate used to compute pension obligations can subtract several million dollars from the "Change in Pension Value" component without any cash actually changing hands. The fourth driver — and the rarest — is a voluntary or board-imposed reduction following a failed or low say-on-pay vote, a corporate distress event, or a restructuring. These show up most clearly when accompanied by a published shareholder-engagement statement in the next proxy.
Authoritative context: equity-grant accounting follows FASB ASC 718, the Summary Compensation Table format follows SEC Regulation S-K Item 402, and every filing referenced here is on the SEC EDGAR system.
Top 5 Biggest CEO Pay Cuts
| # | CEO | Company | Current Comp | Previous Comp | Change | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pat Gelsinger | IntelINTC | $19.5M | $27.3M | -28.6% | B |
| 2 | Alex Chriss | PayPal HoldingsPYPL | $20.0M | $24.6M | -18.5% | B |
| 3 | Eric Yuan | Zoom VideoZM | $15.2M | $18.6M | -18.3% | A |
| 4 | Jack Dorsey | Block IncSQ | $24.3M | $25.0M | -2.8% | C |
| 5 | Jim Farley | Ford MotorF | $10.2M | $10.2M | -0.2% | C |
How These Cuts Are Calculated
For each company, we pull the most recent reported CEO total compensation from the Summary Compensation Table of the latest DEF 14A and compare it to the prior-year total from the same company's prior proxy. The percentage change is (current − prior) / prior. Both inputs are SEC-disclosed, available on the EDGAR system. We exclude CEOs who served less than a full year in either period to avoid double-counting transitions and pro-rated payments. The Pay-for-Performance Grade in the rightmost column is the four-factor composite documented at methodology; revenue-versus-compensation growth is one of the four factors and is the most directly responsive to pay cuts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did these CEOs see pay cuts?
Most reported "pay cuts" are not voluntary — they reflect the absence of a special equity grant from the prior year, performance share units (PSUs) failing to vest because performance hurdles were missed, or pension-actuarial revisions reducing the "Change in Pension Value" line. Year-over-year drops of 50% or more usually mean the prior year contained an outsized one-time grant or PSU vesting event that did not recur. A smaller share of cuts reflect deliberate board action — pay reductions following a failed say-on-pay vote, voluntary cuts during restructuring, or peer-group adjustments that lowered the target.
Are voluntary CEO pay cuts common?
Genuinely voluntary pay cuts (where the CEO chooses to forgo or return compensation) are rare and usually publicized. They typically appear during corporate distress — bankruptcy negotiations, COVID-era cost cuts, post-restructuring resets — or as a public response to a failed say-on-pay vote. Most cuts on this list are structural (grant timing, PSU achievement levels, pension actuarial swings) rather than negotiated givebacks.
Does a pay cut improve a CEO's Pay-for-Performance Grade?
Sometimes. The Pay-for-Performance Grade weights revenue growth versus compensation growth at 25%, so a pay cut during a stable-revenue year improves that factor. But the other three factors — relative TSR (35%), say-on-pay vote (25%), and CEO-to-worker pay ratio versus peers (15%) — are not directly improved by a cut. A CEO can take a 50% pay cut and still earn an F if relative TSR stayed deeply negative, the say-on-pay vote dropped below 70%, or peer-relative pay ratio remained an outlier.
What does a 70%+ year-over-year pay cut look like?
Almost every reported drop above 70% traces to one specific structural cause: the prior year contained a special multi-year RSU or PSU mega-grant under FASB ASC 718 that produced an inflated grant-date fair value. When the next year reverts to a normal annual award, the percentage drop looks dramatic even though average annual pay barely moved. In the current dataset, 0 CEOs in this ranking show a year-over-year drop of 50% or more.
Where can I see the underlying SEC filings?
Every individual company profile linked from this ranking includes a direct link to the underlying DEF 14A on SEC EDGAR (https://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). The Summary Compensation Table reports the same year and prior-year totals used here. Stock and option awards are reported at grant-date fair value under FASB ASC 718. The current dataset was last refreshed April 2026.
Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, DEF 14A proxy filings via EDGAR. Public domain.
Last updated 2026-04-06 · 5 CEO pay cuts ranked.