Goldman Sachs has quietly crowned CEO David Solomon as the compensation leader among heads of Fortune 500 companies in 2025, with a double-digit raise that puts him ahead of both JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon and Disney’s Bob Iger.
While not all Fortune 500 companies have disclosed their executive compensation for 2025, bank CEOs like Solomon and Dimon are among the highest paid. The most notable pay drop may be that of Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol, whose 2025 pay plummeted after he received $96 million in 2024 in advance compensation for four months of work.
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The double-digit compensation increases on Wall Street come as the six biggest U.S. banks, including Goldman and JPMorgan, reported combined profits of $157 billion, an 8% rise that marked the industry’s best year since the pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal.
CEO compensation at some of the largest U.S. companies increased steadily between 2010 and 2023, according to a study by Pay Governance, an independent consultancy that advises compensation committees.
In 2024, however, CEO compensation at S&P 500 companies slowed, rising just 5%, compared to 14% in 2023. Still, the median total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs — including base salary, bonuses and long-term incentives — stood at $17 million in 2024.
See how Fortune 500 CEOs fared last year, based on currently available data.
Highest-paid CEO in the Fortune 500: David Solomon
Goldman raised Solomon’s annual compensation in 2025 to US$47 million (R$244 million), a 21% increase over the US$39 million package received in 2024. The executive’s compensation consisted of US$2 million in base salary and another US$45 million in variable compensation, according to a document sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The variable portion includes US$10.1 million in cash, US$31.5 million in performance-linked shares and US$3.4 million received through a profit sharing program.
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While lawmakers from both parties criticize profit-sharing programs as a strategy to get around higher taxes, they have become more popular among banks and asset managers after years of being standard practice in private equity and venture capital.
In general, profit sharing is taxed at the capital gains rate, capped at 20%, and not at the income tax rate, which can reach 37%.
Last year, Goldman announced its profit-sharing program. In this structure, part of Solomon’s remuneration is linked to the long-term performance of certain alternative investments managed by the institution.
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At $47 million, Solomon’s pay jump surpassed Dimon’s, after both were paid the same amount in 2024. Dimon, who serves as CEO of JPMorgan more than 10 years apart from Solomon at Goldman, has long been the standard yardstick for compensation for high-profile CEOs in the banking industry.
Jamie Dimon: Big raise, but not the biggest
JPMorgan raised CEO Dimon’s annual compensation by just over 10%, to US$43 million (R$223 million) in 2025, placing him among the highest-paid CEOs on Wall Street.
The veteran executive’s compensation consisted of US$1.5 million in base salary, in addition to US$41.5 million in variable incentive compensation, according to an SEC document. As part of this variable portion, Dimon received US$5 million in cash, while the majority of his compensation (US$36.5 million) was linked to performance-linked shares, known as “performance share units” (PSUs).
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JPMorgan previously raised Dimon’s 2024 compensation to $39 million, up about 8.3% from $36 million in 2023, after the bank reported record profits.
While Dimon’s compensation is impressive, it fell considerably short of Solomon’s $47 million, despite Dimon having spent years as the industry’s most prominent CEO and often the highest paid.
Dimon has been CEO of JPMorgan since 2006 and often avoids answering when he will step down.
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In 2024, he changed his tune by saying succession plans were “well underway,” but returned to his recurring response that his retirement is five years away during a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event earlier this month.
Bob Iger: the background to Disney succession
Disney CEO Bob Iger’s compensation rose 11.5% in 2025, to US$45.8 million (R$238 million), placing him just behind Solomon and ahead of Dimon, according to a document sent to the SEC.
Although Iger also received a double-digit percentage raise, his compensation had jumped about 30% between 2023 and 2024, according to the same document.
Iger’s compensation included $1 million in base salary, with most of the total amount coming from variable compensation. Performance-linked stock grants totaled around US$21 million, while stock options reached US$14 million.
A non-stock-based incentive plan worth US$7.25 million made up the remainder of the variable portion. Iger also received $2.6 million in “other compensation,” which included, among other items, personal air travel on the corporate jet and security costs.
Iger’s pay increase comes as Disney searches for his successor. The executive is in his second term as CEO, having replaced then-CEO Bob Chapek in 2022. The company said in its 2026 shareholder documents that it plans to announce the appointment of Iger’s successor later this year.
Drop in Starbucks CEO compensation
After securing one of the biggest compensation packages in corporate America when he took over Starbucks after serving as CEO of Chipotle, Brian Niccol’s compensation is back to reality in 2025.
Niccol earned around US$31 million (R$161 million) in 2025, down from US$96 million in 2024, when the company granted him a large share package, worth more than US$90 million, as part of the offer to attract him to the role.
An AFL-CIO study released in July found that, thanks to the massive package he received earlier, Niccol earned about 6,666 times the median salary of a Starbucks employee.
Niccol’s $31 million compensation was comprised of $1.6 million in base salary, plus a $5 million bonus, $19.8 million in stock, $1.9 million from a non-stock-based incentive plan, and $2.5 million in “other compensation,” which included, among other items, $371,536 in “living expenses” and $1.14 million in living expenses. safely, according to an SEC document.
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