The Highest-Paid CEOs of 2018

Being the CEO of a major corporation usually translates to getting a major paycheck. In the case of these chief executive officers, their 2018 salaries are all in the eight-figure range, according to data from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Keep reading to find out which top brass are bringing in the biggest paychecks this year.

James Whitehurst

• Company: Red Hat
• 2018 Salary: $13.6 million

Since joining the open source software provider Red Hat in 2008, president and CEO James Whitehurst has helped the company achieve some major milestones. In 2012, under his leadership, it became the first $1 billion revenue open source software company. 

Test Your Knowledge: Quiz — See Which of These CEOs Gets Paid More

Hubert Joly

• Company: Best Buy
• 2018 Salary: $16.76 million

Chairman and CEO of Best Buy Hubert Joly joined the company in 2012 and helped lead it through its customer-focused “Renew Blue” transformation. This initiative helped improve customer satisfaction, led to market share gains and grew revenues. 

Ernie Herrman

• Company: TJX Companies Inc.
• 2018 Salary: $16.88 million

TJX is the umbrella company that owns TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Home Goods and more. Ernie Herrman serves as the company’s president, CEO and director, and has held the CEO title since 2016. 

Check Out: 10 CEOs Who Make Less Money Than You

Patrick Gelsinger

• Company: VMware
• 2018 Salary: $17.68 million

Pat Gelsinger became CEO of the software company VMware in 2012, and since then, he’s nearly doubled the company’s size. He previously served as CTO of Intel. 

Food for Thought: How Much More Do These CEOs Make Than Their Employees?

Charles Giancarlo

• Company: Pure Storage
• 2018 Salary: $17.97 million*

Charles Giancarlo joined Pure Storage — a cloud-connected data storage platform — as CEO in 2017. Prior to joining the company, he served in senior executive roles at Silver Lake Partners and Cisco Systems, Inc.

*This number is his total package including salary and all equity value (even when it vests over the next three to four years).

John H. Hammergren

• Company: McKesson Corporation
• 2018 Salary: $18.14 million

Healthcare services and information technology solutions provider McKesson has been helmed by John H. Hammergren since 2001. Under his leadership, the company has more than quadrupled revenues to over $200 billion, expanded into global markets and became No. 6 on the Fortune 500. Hammergren has been named one of the Top Performing CEOs in the World by Harvard Business Review. 

Learn: Where These 51 CEOS Went to College

Douglas McMillon

• Company: Walmart
• 2018 Salary: $22.79 million

Walmart serves nearly 265 million customers every week, and the person who oversees the mega-retailer is Doug McMillon. Before becoming CEO of Walmart, he was president and CEO of Walmart International, and previously, he was CEO of Sam’s Club. 

Patrice Louvet

• Company: Ralph Lauren Corporation
• 2018 Salary: $23.79 million

Patrice Louvet has been president and CEO of Ralph Lauren since 2017, and he joined the company during challenging times — revenues were down 10 percent year-over-year, Forbes reported. Louvet said at the time that he would be focusing on growing revenues abroad, specifically in China.

Must Be Nice: The Most Outrageous CEO Salaries and Perks

Mike Lawrie

• Company: DXC Technology Company
• 2018 Salary: $32.19 million

Mike Lawrie is the chairman, president and CEO of DXC Technology, an end-to-end IT services company that serves thousands of clients across the world. He came to the role with decades of experience in the tech world, including 27 years at IBM.

Andrew Wilson

• Company: Electronic Arts
• 2018 Salary: $35.73 million

Andrew Wilson had been working at game publisher Electronic Arts for 13 years before being named CEO in 2013. When he joined the company, it had been through recent layoffs, the quality of games was being criticized and its share prices were down. Under his leadership, shares reached nearly an all-time high, Variety reported. During his time at EA, he’s helped to shift its focus to digital sales, and win an exclusive deal with Star Wars.

Click through to read about Facebook’s COO and 27 other powerful women worth billions.

More on Net Worth

• 10 Billionaires Like Oprah Winfrey Who Grew Up Poor
• Barack Obama Net Worth: From President to Netflix Producer
• Fast Facts About Tony Robbins and His $500 Million Fortune
• Watch: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Surges Past Bill Gates as World’s Richest Person

We make money easy. Get weekly email updates, including expert advice to help you Live Richer™.

Note: Salary rankings are based on the 2018 CEO pay figures made available by AFL-CIO as of Nov. 9, 2018.

About the Author

Gabrielle Olya

Gabrielle joined GOBankingRates in 2017 and brings with her a decade of experience in the journalism industry. Before joining the team, she was a staff writer-reporter for People Magazine and People.com. Her work has also appeared on E! Online, Us Weekly, Patch, Sweety High and Discover Los Angeles, and she has been featured on “Good Morning America” as a celebrity news expert. 

Read More