London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

The CEO of a company you've probably never heard of earned $211 million in compensation last year - and the title of highest-paid chief executive, according to a new ranking

The CEO of a company you've probably never heard of earned $211 million in compensation last year - and the title of highest-paid chief executive, according to a new ranking

Paycom founder and CEO Chad Richison makes about $20 million a year, and will have to hit aggressive performance goals to get his bonus compensation.
Jeff Bezos may be the world's wealthiest man, but his $1.7 million pay package from Amazon was nowhere close to making the list of the highest compensated CEOs in 2020.

The top spot on the New York Times' list of industry titans, which includes the likes of GE,Netflix, and JPMorgan Chase, goes to a cloud-based HR management software provider based in Oklahoma City called Paycom.

CEO Chad Richison's compensation package topped out at $211 million in 2020.

Richison founded Paycom in 1998, pioneering the employee self-service approach to HR management, which paved the way for things like enrolling in benefits or checking your pay stub from your phone.

The company now serves 31,000 clients with roughly 5 million individual profiles, mostly among mid-sized businesses with up to 5,000 employees.

As it turns out, Richison won't see the vast majority of this year's compensation package for several more years, as the stock-based award is part of a long-term incentive plan detailed in the the company's 2021 proxy statement.

In fact, Richison's actual pay for 2020 will come out more in the range of $20 million if Paycom's share price doesn't hit certain targets.

That's still a pretty high number, but a look at the company's recent performance would suggest Richison is doing a good job as CEO. The company's stock has outperformed S&P's index of software companies by a shattering margin, with 26% annual returns since 2017.

Paycom seems to buck the narrative of wealthy CEOs being rewarded despite business being battered by the pandemic, with several awards for management and worker satisfaction, including one from Glassdoor for leadership during the COVID-19 crisis.

With this compensation package, the board is showing it wants Richison to keep it up.

In order for Richison to receive the full long-term incentive worth about $175 million, Paycom's stock would have to climb from its current $400 value to $1,000 over the next six years and $1,750 over the next ten.

Richison's award structure "requires significant value creation for them before he can realize any value from the grant," Jason Clark, chair of Paycom's compensation committee, said in a statement to Insider.

"This grant further aligns our CEO's total compensation with the Company's sustained growth over the next decade and provides a strong incentive to continue building the Company's value," he added.

Richison will not be eligible for further equity grants until 2026.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×