U.S.-based companies hold half of ASX top 10 CEO pay spots

U.S.-based companies occupy five of the ten highest-paid chief executive positions on the Australian stock exchange, according to new research released Tuesday by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors. The report found that pay for chief executives overall continued to plateau in the most recent financial year.

Executives at U.S.-domiciled companies received the largest packages for the first time in the study’s history. Chris Hulls, chief executive of location sharing app Life360, received the highest total pay of $47.7 million. The San Francisco-based company listed on the ASX in 2019 and later added a Nasdaq listing.

Australian comparison ResMed boss Mick Farrell and News Corporation’s Robert Thomson followed Hulls in the top three. Sigma Healthcare chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder was the highest-paid Australian-based executive at $36.62 million after the company’s merger with Chemist Warehouse.

Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake received the next-highest Australian package at $30.39 million.

Scrutiny and bonus trends ACSI’s executive manager of stewardship said Australian investors require performance hurdles that are higher than those in U.S. boardrooms. The same official noted that fixed pay for ASX100 CEOs has stagnated and declined in real terms.

The report also found that an ASX100 chief executive is more likely to lose their job than their bonus. Ten bosses departed in the past financial year while five missed their bonus. For each of the past 11 years, excluding the 2019-20 financial year, ASX100 chief executives received a median bonus of between 60 and 77 per cent of maximum levels.