Lucid Motors’ CEO, Peter Rawlinson, has claimed the title of the highest-paid CEO in the publicly-traded car manufacturing sector for the year 2022, according to data from the Automotive News/Equilar CEO Compensation Survey. Rawlinson’s remarkable compensation package reached a staggering $379,029,183, eclipsing his closest competitor, Mary Barra of General Motors (GM), by more than tenfold.
A detailed breakdown of Rawlinson’s earnings reveals a base salary of $575,000, a relatively modest figure. However, the lion’s share of his compensation came in the form of stock awards, totaling an astounding $372,928,375. In addition to this, Rawlinson realized $5,504,378 in stock option gains. Notably, this massive compensation package was awarded despite Lucid (LCID) stock experiencing an 82% drop in value throughout 2022, ending the year at just under $7 per share.
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Rawlinson’s compensation catapulted him to the second position on the list of the highest-paid CEOs in the automotive sector, trailing only the CEO of Nvidia, who received an impressive $506,343,201 in total compensation.
GM CEO Mary Barra secured the third spot with a total compensation of $34,106,824. Her compensation package included a base salary of $2.1 million and $32,006,824 in stock award gains, bonuses, incentive plan compensation, accumulated pension benefits, and deferred compensation balance. Intriguingly, Barra’s total compensation for 2022 represented a 45% decrease compared to the previous year, primarily due to her decision not to exercise any stock options.
Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, closely followed as the third highest-paid automotive CEO among publicly traded U.S. companies, ranking 14th when considering all entities in the automotive mobility, supplier, dealership, and services industries. Farley’s total compensation amounted to $18,340,695, featuring a base salary of $1.7 million, with the remainder stemming from stock award gains, stock option gains, bonuses, incentive plan compensation, and deferred compensation.
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Completing the list, R.J. Scaringe of Rivian earned a total compensation of $1,012,518, while Henrik Fisker received $783,255. Notably, Scaringe received a significant pay raise in the past week.
As for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his name appeared at the very bottom of the list for 2022. Despite receiving $23.5 billion in stock options during 2021, Musk did not exercise any stock options in 2022 and opted to forgo a salary for the year.