Telecom, IT CEOs: What They Make

There’s something fascinating, if not tempting, about seeing how much other people make. Especially the people at the top of the food chain.

We examined the highest paid CEOs of public companies and selected those who run large organizations with channel programs. Some are in cloud, some are in cable, and others are known for mobility.

CEO salaries differ according to news organization, owing to how they are comprised of a base salary and stock options. That’s why we’ve compiled our numbers from the same place.

Our primary source? Equilar’s 200 Highest Paid CEOs, which you can find on the New York Times website. Although the list is quite comprehensive, it records how much executives were compensated in 2015, meaning that some CEOs have joined or left those companies in the time since. Headshots were taken from the companies’ websites or LinkedIn unless otherwise stated. We’ve compiled them in alphabetical order.

Follow associate editor @JamesAndersonCP on Twitter.

CEO: Randall Stephenson

Salary: $22.4 million

Stephenson took the helm of AT&T in 2007, and was most recently named president of the Boy Scouts. Our audience has doubtless read plenty about Stephenson, especially as in regard to AT&T’s dealings with the FCC and other regulators. He’s busy advocating for the telecommunication giant’s acquisition of Time Warner.

With multiple partner programs, AT&T is very active in the channel. See pictures of its most recent Partner Exchange Summit.

CEO: Thomas Rutledge

Salary: $16.4 million

Rutledge moved up a spot on this list by merit of acquiring a company (Time Warner Cable) that had a higher-paid CEO (Robert Marcus). Rutledge started as CEO for Charter in 2012 and finally completed the company’s oft-attempted acquisition of TWC. Check out our recap of that M&A.

CEO: Chuck Robbins

Salary: $19.6 million

Robbins succeeded long-time CEO John Chambers last year. Although Robbins’ base salary is slightly higher than his predecessor’s ($1.15 million vs. $1.1 million), Chambers’ stock options had him up to $19.6 million total in 2015, according to Equilar.  

CEO: Kirill Tatarinov

Salary: $19.6 million*

In all fairness, the salary listed above belonged to that of Robert Calderoni, who served as interim CEO from October 2015 to January 2016. We’re still waiting on an updated number from Equilar on the new CEO — yet we doubt it varies drastically. Tatarinov led Microsoft’s Dynamic Business unit, before the company shut down the division in 2015.

CEO: Brian Roberts

Salary: $27.5 million

Roberts, who oversees Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal, has been with the parent organization since his graduation from college in 1981. Next big step for the company?: In September, we wrote about Comcast’s plans to launch wireless service in 2017.

CEO: Margaret Whitman

Salary: $17.1 million

Meg Whitman has been at the helm of HPE, and previously Hewlett-Packard, since 2011. She is a former eBay CEO and California gubernatorial candidate. She remains chairman of the board at HP Inc. as well. Check out our photos from the HP/HPE 2016 Global Partner Conference.

CEO: Satya Nadella

Salary: $18.3 million

Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer in 2014 as Microsoft’s third-ever chief executive. He is 49 and has worked at the company since 1992. He’s been at the helm for some significant changes, including the company’s deep dive into cloud computing and the sale of its mobile assets.

Read his remarks to the channel audience at the most recent Microsoft World Partner Conference.

Co-CEO: Mark Hurd

Salary: $53.2 million

Co-CEO: Safra Catz

Salary: $53.2 million

When former CEO and co-founder Larry Ellison stepped down in 2014, the enterprise software and cloud computing company turned to co-presidents Mark Hurd and Safra Catz.

Catz had been working with Oracle since 1999, and Hurd came aboard in 2010 after spending five years as the HP CEO that permanently replaced Carly Fiorina. The company has plenty of limbs in the channel. It has been pushing its ISVs toward cloud, as noted at its partner kickoff this summer, and it recently launched a program for MSPs.

(Catz’s image via Flickr.com)

CEO: Marc Benioff

Salary: $33.4 million

The software-as-a-service pioneer worked for 13 years at Oracle before moving on to start his own company. Benioff is well known for his philanthropic efforts, which he discussed at the latest Dreamforce conference.

CEO: Lowell McAdam

Salary: $18.3 million

McAdam, a former CEO of Verizon Wireless, took over the parent company in 2011. He served for six years in the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps and currently is a board member for GE. You likely read about him in his dealings with a wireline worker strike this year.

CEO: Pat Gelsinger

Salary: $14.4 million

Pat Gelsinger has been the CEO of VMware, the Dell subsidiary, since 2012. He is a former COO of EMC and CTO of Intel. He made some major announcements at the latest VMworld conference that could have a significant impact on VMware’s cloud-services competition and the channel.

CEO: Dan Caruso

Salary: $16.5 million

Caruso co-founded the company in 2007. He also co-founded Level 3 Communications. Zayo has made waves in the channel recently with its plans to acquire Electric Lightwave/Integra.