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Although not all Fortune 500 companies have released their executive compensation for 2025, banking CEOs like Solomon and Dimon are among the early winners. Yet perhaps the most dramatic pay cut belongs to Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, whose 2025 compensation fell after receiving $96 million in 2024 in initial compensation for four months of work.

The double-digit pay increases on Wall Street come as the six biggest U.S. banks, including Goldman and JPMorgan, generated $157 billion in combined profits, an 8% increase that marked the sector’s best year since the pandemic. THE Wall Street Journal reported.

CEO pay at some of America’s largest companies rose steadily between 2010 and 2023, a study finds. study by Pay Governance, an independent consultancy that advises remuneration committees. Yet in 2024, CEO compensation at S&P 500 companies moderated, increasing only 5% from 14% in 2023. Nonetheless, median total compensation, including base salary, bonuses and long-term incentives, for S&P 500 CEOs was $17 million in 2024.

Here’s how Fortune 500 CEO salaries changed last year, based on currently available data.

Highest Paid Fortune 500 CEO: David Solomon

Goldman increased Solomon’s compensation for 2025 to $47 million, a 21% increase from the $39 million he received in 2024. The executive’s compensation consisted of a $2 million base salary and an additional $45 million in variable pay, according to a report. deposit with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Solomon’s variable compensation includes $10.1 million in cash, $31.5 million in performance-related shares and $3.4 million received through a carried interest program.

While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to have criticized interest-based programs As a strategy to avoid higher taxes, they have become more popular with banks and asset managers after being a common practice in private equity and venture capital for years. Carried interest is generally taxed at the capital gains rate, which is typically taxed at a maximum of 20%, rather than the income tax rate which tops out at 37%.

Goldman last year announced its carried interest program. Under this structure, Solomon’s compensation is tied in part to the long-term performance of certain alternative investments managed by the firm.

At $47 million, Salomon’s salary surpassed Dimon’s after they were paid the same in 2024. Dimon, who served as CEO of JPMorgan for more than a decade longer than Solomon at Goldman, has long been the default benchmark for CEO compensation in the top-tier banking industry.

Jamie Dimon: Big increase, but not the biggest

JPMorgan raised CEO Dimon’s salary by just over 10% to $43 million for 2025, placing him among the highest-paid CEOs on Wall Street.

The longtime CEO’s compensation included a base salary of $1.5 million, as well as variable incentive compensation of $41.5 million, according to an SEC. deposit. As part of variable compensation, Dimon received $5 million in cash, while the majority of his compensation ($36.5 million) was tied to performance-related shares called performance share units (PSUs).

JPMorgan previously increased Dimon’s 2024 salary to $39 million, an increase of about 8.3% from $36 million in 2023, after the bank posted record profits.

While Dimon’s compensation is staggering, it is significantly less than Solomon’s $47 million, despite spending years as the industry’s most prominent and, often, highest-paid CEO.

Although Dimon has served as JPMorgan’s chief executive since 2006, he has often avoided questions about when he will step down. If he changed his tone in 2024, saying that succession plans were “on track”, he reverse let’s return to his oft-repeated response that his retirement is in five years at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event earlier this month.

Bob Iger: the backdrop to the Disney estate

Disney CEO Bob Iger’s compensation for 2025 increased 11.5% to $45.8 million, putting him just behind Solomon and ahead of Dimon, according to a report. deposit with the SEC. While Iger has consistently received a double-digit pay raise, his salary has already jumped about 30% between 2023 and 2024, according to the filing.

Iger’s salary consisted of a base salary of $1 million, with variable pay making up the majority of his enormous salary. His performance stock awards totaled approximately $21 million, while option awards totaled $14 million. A non-equity incentive plan worth $7.25 million comprised the remainder of his variable compensation. Iger also received $2.6 million in “other compensation,” which included, among other things, Iger’s personal travel on the corporate jet, as well as security costs.

Iger’s pay increase comes as Disney seeks to find his successor. The Disney boss is in his second term as CEO after replacing former CEO Bob Chapek in 2022. The company said in its 2026 proxy statement that it plans to announce Iger’s successor in 2026.

Starbucks CEO’s pay cut

After securing one of the the highest salaries in American companies after his time at Starbucks after having been CEO of ChipotleNiccol’s compensation fell back to Earth in 2025.

Niccol earned about $31 million in 2025, up from $96 million in 2024, when the company gave him a large stock award of more than $90 million as part of the program to lure him to the role.

A July study by the AFL-CIO found that, thanks to his huge previous salary, Niccol earned approximately 6,666 times more than the median salary of a Starbucks employee.

Niccol’s $31 million compensation package included a base salary of $1.6 million, as well as a $5 million bonus, $19.8 million in stock awards, $1.9 million from a non-stock incentive plan and $2.5 million in “other compensation,” which included, among other things, $371,536 in “housing costs” and $1.14 million in management expenses. security for Niccol, according to a report. deposit with the SEC.