NEW YORK: The median pay of top 100 CEOs in America has risen by 5 per cent to $14.3 million in 2014, a study has found.

Besides this, the base salary ranged from $7.1 million for Rupert Murdoch at 21st Century Fox to nil for Richard Fairbank at Capital One, said Equilar 100 CEO Pay Study.

The study, which is an analysis of CEO salaries at the 100 largest public U.S. companies as measured by revenue, puts Microsoft’s Indian-origin chief Satya Nadella on the top with a pay package of $84.3 million (Rs 525 crore) a year.

The list was topped by Oracle’s Larry Ellison last year, who has been now pushed by Nadella to the second spot.

Microsoft, however, said that Nadella’s pay for 2014 totals to $22.75 million only after taking into account the annualised value of special and one time equity awards.

“To obtain a more accurate understanding of annual CEO compensation, the value of special, one-time equity awards should be annualised over their vesting periods, resulting in 2014 compensation of $22.75 million based on grant date fair value,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement.

For 2014, Nadella got annual executive compensation of $11.6 million, annualised one-time CEO transition award of $2.7 million and annualised Long-Term Performance-Based Stock Award (LTPSA) of $8.45 million, resulting in a total payout of $22.75 million.

For the years 2015 to 2018, his annual executive compensation (assuming target value) is $18 million, Annualised one-time CEO transition award will be $2.7 millon and Annualised Long-Term Performance-Based Stock Award (LTPSA) of $8.45 million, totalling to $29.15 million.

In 2019 and 2020, the annual executive compensation (assuming target value) is $18 million and Annualized Long-Term Performance-Based Stock Award (LTPSA) is $8.45 million with a total investment of $26.45 million, Microsoft said.

On the list, another Indian-origin CEO, Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo is ranked 19th with $19.08 million. Legendary investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway is ranked last at 100th position with a total compensation of $464,011.

Ellison ($67.3 million) is followed by Steven Mollenkopf of Qualcomm at the third place on the list with $60.7 million.

Others in the top-10 include Robert Iger (Walt Disney), Larry Merlo (CVS Health), K Rupert Murdoch (Twenty-First Century Fox), W James McNerney Jr (Boeing), James Gorman (Morgan Stanley), David Cote (Honeywell International) and Kenneth Chenault (American Express).

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