Executive Compensation

Dario Amodei, along with all six other Anthropic cofounders, pledged to donate 80% of their wealth, citing concerns about wealth concentration from the AI boom. In an essay titled 'The Adolescence of Technology,' Amodei wrote: 'The thing to worry about is a level of wealth concentration that will break society. Wealthy individuals have an obligation to help solve this problem.' Each cofounder's net worth is estimated at ~$3.7B, potentially directing tens of billions to philanthropy. The pledge is not legally binding and no donations have been made yet - equity is 'set aside' pending implementation.

Intel laid off roughly 25,000 employees (15% of workforce) in 2025 with no severance packages, voluntary buyouts, or early retirement options - a departure from previous layoffs. This occurred while Intel received $8.5 billion in federal CHIPS Act funding. Two days before the layoff announcement, Intel's Board approved enhanced executive severance packages. A former engineer stated: 'It feels like Intel is throwing out loyalty with the layoffs. No severance, no warning, just a cold email.'

Klarna board member Mikael Walther was voted out after challenging governance decisions including a bonus plan he claimed could hand CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski as much as $35 billion. Walther urged investors to vote against the board's decision to remove him, raising corporate governance concerns.

AMD removed DEI metrics from executive annual cash bonuses in 2024, replacing them with 'workforce strategic objectives.' This represented a retreat from 2023 when DEI performance directly affected executive pay. The change occurred despite AMD maintaining public DEI programs including the 'Advancing Women in Tech' initiative.

In 2023, Will Shu received a £600,000 salary and £625,000 total package while Deliveroo posted a £245.6 million loss. At the AGM in May 2024, riders protested outside with banners reading 'Shame on Shu' chanting 'pay your riders like you should'. One rider of 5+ years said they'd seen 'steady real-term decrease year on year' calling conditions 'soul-destroying'. IWGB president said 'riders are dying chasing pennies whilst the CEO's prime concern is the safety of his £600,000 salary'.

In 2023, CEO Nikesh Arora's total compensation was $151.4 million, up 1,355% from the previous year, representing a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 735-to-1, making him the fourth highest paid CEO in the U.S. that year. For 2024, his total compensation was $58 million.

In 2023, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan earned $161.8 million in total compensation, up 167% from the previous year. This represented a CEO-to-median worker pay ratio of 510-to-1, making him the third-highest-paid CEO in the US.

During the 2023 WGA writers strike, Netflix suspended overall and first-look deals and limited assistant pay coverage. The company expected $1.5 billion additional cash from the strikes. Meanwhile, executives received $166M in compensation. Shareholders rejected executive pay packages after writers urged votes against. WGA president argued if Netflix could afford $166M for executives, it could afford the $68M/year writers were asking for.

Mitchell Baker's total compensation as Mozilla CEO grew from approximately $2.5M in 2018 to $6.9M in 2022, while Firefox's market share declined from ~32% to under 3% and Mozilla laid off over 380 employees across multiple rounds (2020: 250, 2024: 60+). The disparity between executive pay and organizational performance drew significant criticism.

In November 2022, it was revealed that Masayoshi Son personally owed SoftBank Group Corp $4.7 billion (later rising to $5.1 billion by February 2023) on side deals he had set up to increase his personal compensation while the Vision Fund posted record losses. Son held more than 30% stake in SoftBank and structured these arrangements as 'remuneration for investment expertise' in lieu of investment fees. Governance experts and activist investor Elliott Management criticized this as a clear conflict of interest, but Son denied wrongdoing.

Mozilla's IRS filings revealed CEO Mitchell Baker received compensation packages exceeding $5-6 million annually between 2020-2022, while the organization conducted multiple rounds of layoffs. Critics argued a nonprofit with a public mission shouldn't pay executives tech-company salaries, especially during workforce reductions.

In 2022, Team17 QA staff reported base pay of £16,000/year (below UK minimum wage), with senior testers earning £19,000 (barely above). Employees reported being unable to 'afford to heat their homes, have 3 meals a day or replace clothes with holes' while CEO Debbie Bestwick made ~$10.24 million and had £200M personal fortune. Women who received 'suggestive and degrading messages and photos from male colleagues' were told by HR to 'handle the issue themselves' or saw perpetrators get 'a slap on the wrist.' One female employee said she feared being 'gaslit' by HR.

The Wikimedia Foundation paid departing CEO Katherine Maher a severance package of $623,286 (about 1.5x her base compensation). Analysis showed total executive compensation from 2017-2022 placed WMF executives 'above the 95th percentile of US wage earners,' raising concerns about nonprofit governance.

In April 2021, Signal integrated MobileCoin (MOB) cryptocurrency for payments within the app. Critics noted that Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike was an early advisor to MobileCoin and was paid in MOB tokens, creating a potential conflict of interest. The MOB token price surged after the announcement. Privacy advocates questioned adding a privacy-coin to a messaging app.

In March 2021, major institutional investors including Aberdeen Standard, Aviva, Legal & General, M&G, and others managing over £800bn boycotted Deliveroo's IPO citing worker rights concerns. Aberdeen Standard called rider conditions a 'red flag'. The IWGB union reported riders earning as little as £2/hour while Shu stood to net up to £530 million. Shares crashed 30% on opening day - the worst London debut in two decades. Riders went on strike during the IPO.

When forced out as WeWork CEO in 2019, Adam Neumann received a reported $1.7 billion exit package from SoftBank including $185M in consulting fees, nearly $1B in stock sales, and a $500M credit line. Meanwhile WeWork laid off approximately 2,400 employees. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in November 2023 with $18.6B in debt.

WeWork's planned 2019 IPO collapsed after its S-1 filing revealed extensive self-dealing by CEO Adam Neumann: he had trademarked 'We' and charged the company $5.9M to license it, personally owned buildings leased back to WeWork, had taken hundreds of millions in personal loans secured by company stock, and maintained supervoting shares giving him near-total control. The company's valuation dropped from $47B to under $10B.