Business & Finance
Report finds CEOs at 100 lowest-paying S&P 500 firms earn 614 times more than median workers
An analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies highlights widening compensation gaps and extensive stock buybacks at low-wage corporations.
The short version
- Chief executives at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay earned an average of $17.5 million in 2025, according to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies.
- While executive compensation at these firms rose 41.4% between 2019 and 2025, median worker pay grew by only 20.7%, failing to keep pace with a 25.9% inflation rate over the same period.
- The progressive think tank proposed several policy measures to address the disparity, including tax hikes on companies with high executive-to-worker pay ratios and restrictions on stock buybacks.
Key facts
- The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) reported that the average CEO compensation at the 100 S&P 500 companies with the lowest median wages was $17.5 million in 2025, compared to a median worker pay of $36,571.[The Guardian]
- Between 2019 and 2025, unadjusted for inflation, CEO compensation at these 100 firms increased by 41.4%, while median worker pay increased by 20.7%.[The Guardian]
- Inflation rose by 25.9% between 2019 and 2025, outstripping the median worker wage growth at the analyzed companies.[The Guardian]
- The 100 low-wage corporations spent a total of $718 billion on stock buybacks from 2019 through 2025, including $108.6 billion in 2025 alone.[The Guardian]
- Walmart spent the most on stock buybacks among the group in 2025 at $8.1 billion, while its former CEO, Doug McMillon, received $29.2 million in compensation—958 times the company's median worker pay of $30,520.[The Guardian]
- The IPS report suggests taxing corporations with CEO-to-worker pay ratios above 50-to-1 and barring government contractors from conducting stock buybacks.[The Guardian]
What remains uncertain
- Walmart did not respond to requests for comment regarding the report's findings and executive compensation figures.[The Guardian]