Minnesota’s Top Paid Executives

CEO pay at Minnesota’s public companies was down 20% last year, mainly because the major stock indexes had their worst year since 2008. The largest component of CEO pay in Minnesota, like across the country, is equity awards, so compensation is directly affected if shares lose value. In total, the CEOs in the last fiscal year made $504 million, and less than 10% of that came from annual salaries. Most came from the long-term equity awards and incentive pay such as bonuses. The Star Tribune each year compiles a list of the 50 highest paid CEOs of companies that are run out of Minnesota. We include salary and both short- and long-term incentive compensation. It differs from what is reported in a company’s proxy because we count the value of equity awards when they are realized and not from the year they are granted. Among the 50 highest paid CEOs, 22 saw their pay decrease. Only 21 of the 50 highest paid CEOs exercised options last year, which makes sense since 34 of the companies had negative shareholder returns. Waiting may pay off for them. In the first half of 2023, the S&P 500 index rebounded and was up almost 16%.