These are the most overpaid CEOs of 2021

The gap between executive compensation and other workers is getting wider than ever in some companies—but investor appetite for that seems to be waning.

As You Sow’s latest survey of America’s most overpaid CEOs is out, with Paycom Software’s Chad Richison leading the list. But the number of shareholders voting against high compensation packages is on the rise. Last year, a record 16 companies in the S&P 500 had CEO pay packages rejected by shareholders, a 60% increase over 2020—and twice as many as in 2019.

Richison earned the dubious honor by taking in over $211 million last year. That compares to the average worker at his company taking home $71,259. That’s a ratio of 2,963 to 1. He’s a newcomer to the list and didn’t even make the top 10 last year.

In fact, only two CEOs from last year’s list made it back onto the top 10: Discovery’s David Zaslav and John C. Plant of Howmet Aerospace. (Zaslav was also on the lists from 2019 and 2020.)

“Because frontline worker pay remained essentially flat for many years, the ratio between employee and CEO pay grew particularly stark,” the report read.

Here’s a look at the list’s ranking of the 10 most overpaid CEOs in America.