The best-paid CEO last year was not running a technology giant or a Wall Street firm — but the company that makes Tasers.
Rick Smith, the CEO and cofounder of Axon Enterprise, which makes stun guns used by many police forces, took home almost $165 million last year.
Although Smith’s annual salary was $31,201, he was awarded stock options worth just over $164 million after meeting a series of targets over several years.
He told The Wall Street Journal that the stock award came from a scheme open to all Axon employees that lets them convert salary into stock options, whose value depends on the share price performance.
“It creates that startup kind of vibe,” said Smith, who has been CEO of Axon since 1993.
Axon stock is up more than a fifth over the past month after posting strong first-quarter results. The price has soared more than 700% over the past five years, leaving the company worth almost $60 billion.
Smith’s compensation exceeded the total for better-known S&P 500 businesses such as Starbucks or Apple, per data compiled by public company intelligence platform MyLogIQ.
Second on its list was new Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, who collected a $5 million bonus and stock awards worth about $90 million.
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Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, was third on $89 million, followed by Blackstone boss Steve Schwarzman on $84 million.
Apple CEO Tim Cook collected nearly $75 million last year, including a salary of $3 million and a stock award worth $58 million, putting him in fifth place.
Other names on MyLogIQ’s top 20 include KKR co-CEOs Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall ($73 million and $64 million respectively); Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters (almost $62 million and $60 million); and Salesforce’s Marc Benioff on $55 million.
A study by Equilar and The Associated Press found that in 2023, the pay of CEOs in the S&P 500 rose by 12.6% year-on-year.
Axon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
