KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Tan Hock Eng is the highest-earning chief executive officer (CEO) in the United States, toppling other big names such as Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai and Facebook's Marck Zuckerberg.
This is according to the list of the top earning CEOs in the United States by Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
According to MSN, citing WSJ, the 65-year-old Penangite pocketed US$103.2 million (RM407.9 million) in 2017, which saw a massive 318 per cent jump from his salary of US$24.7 million (RM97.6 million) in the preceding year.
Tan made the fortune through shares valued at US$98.3 million (RM388.6 million) and a performance bonus of US$3.7 million (RM14.6 million).
“Tan's base pay is only US$1.1 million (RM4.35 million) but the bulk of his pay package comes from shares awarded to him and a performance bonus,” the newsreport said.
The report added that Tan’s travel expenses, US$401,000 compensation and car services expenses also contributed to the figure.
“All in all, Tan - who is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School graduate - earned 2,039 times more than the average worker in the United States,” MSN said.
In fact, his pay package is head and shoulders above his nearest competitor, CBS' Les Moonves, who brought home “only” US$69.3mil (RM273.9mil), it added.