Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla ($23.5 billion)

Elon Musk is the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the world's most talented automaker. Despite receiving no actual salary from Tesla, Musk was the highest-paid CEO in the United States for 3 years.

Instead of receiving a salary, stock options are granted in exchange for the company achieving a specified market value and growth criteria. Thanks to this feature, Musk has the option to buy Tesla stock for $70 per share, knowing that its trading price at the beginning of January 2022 is close to $1,200 per share. In the first quarter of 2022, Tesla generated $18.76 billion in revenue.

By using some of the Tesla stock options granted to him in 2018, Musk earned a total income of $23.5 billion in 2022. As of May 25, Elon Musk's net worth was estimated at $193 billion. This indicates that he has lost $77.6 billion of his fortune since the beginning of the year, yet he remains the richest person in the world.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple ($770.5 million)

Cook became Apple's CEO in 2011 after the death of Steve Jobs. Since then, he has consistently appeared on lists of the highest-paid CEOs. Apple's market capitalization rose by $2.2 trillion under Cook's management. In 2021, the company generated a profit of $95 billion. Although the company faced difficulties due to the shortage of chips, it succeeded in starting the manufacture of in-house equipment.

Apple outperformed other American companies in the same field, ending the year with a whopping $95 billion in profits. In the first quarter of 2022, the company generated revenue of $97.2 billion.

The current net worth of Tim Cook is estimated to be $2 billion. As part of a 10-year stock grant worth $1.7 billion, he received $770.5 million in 2021 alone. Most people would find Cook's $3 million salary acceptable, but the truth is that it doesn't compare to his $10.7 million bonus and $250 million in stock incentives. Cook was ranked 1513th on Forbes' list of billionaires for 2022.

Jin Sun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA ($561 million)

Founded in 1993, NVIDIA is a technology company best known for its screen chips, artificial intelligence technology, and Shields game consoles. Jin Sun Huang is the co-founder and current CEO of the company.

With the company's stock price doubling nearly 60 times over the past 10 years, Huang made $561 million in 2022 from expiration options granted in 2011 and 2012. Huang also received from the company in the fiscal year ending in 2022, a total compensation of $23.7 million, of which $900,000 is his owed salary, $18 million in stock, $4 million in bonus, and $81,000 in other types of compensation.

Huang owns 3.6% of Nvidia, which went public in 1999. Nvidia's revenue increased 61% to a record $12.46 billion in 2021, compared to $7.10 billion in the first quarter of 2022. With a net worth of $21.3 billion, Huang ranked 34th in the Forbes 400 list of billionaires for 2022.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix ($435.5 million)

The popular streaming company, Netflix, was founded in 1997, and Reed Hastings is the company's co-founder, CEO, and Chairman. Under his direction, in 2007 Netflix turned into a leading online streaming service. In 2021, Netflix generated $24.9 billion in revenue, a 23.8% year-over-year increase, and $5.1 billion in operating profit, an 85% increase year-over-year.

With life gradually returning to normal after the pandemic, the company recently cut expenses due to this loss of subscribers along with competing with other streaming services.

Hastings' total income for fiscal year 2021 was approximately $40 million. That amount included $442,000 in other forms of income, $39 million in stock options, and a salary of $650,000. Reed Hastings net worth was $2.9 billion in 2022.

Leonard Schleifer, CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals ($452.9 million)

Leonard Schleifer founded Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in 1988, which is active in the research, innovation, testing, manufacturing and distribution of drugs for the treatment of cancer, asthma and chronic pain.

Thanks to the company's own drugs for the prevention and treatment of "Covid-19", the company's revenue increased by 89.1% in 2021 to reach $16.07 billion, with revenue of $2.97 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

Schleifer received a total of $6 million in income, including $672,000 in other forms of income, 4 million in bonuses, and $1 million in salaries, and his net worth is $1.1 billion.

Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce ($439.4 million)

In 1999, Benioff founded Salesforce, a company that specializes in creating cloud-based CRM software. Sales team automation, digital community management, sales team platform, industry-specific solutions, digital commerce, customer service and support, collaboration, and marketing automation are some of the services provided by his company.

In 2021, revenues increased by 24.7 percent to reach $21.25 billion, and by 24 percent year-on-year to reach $7.41 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

His basic salary is estimated at 1,440,000 dollars, in addition to cash bonuses of 2,816,640 dollars, and incentives amounting to 1,291,541 dollars, making up an annual income of 39,907,534 dollars.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft ($309.4 million)

In 2014, billionaire Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as Microsoft's CEO, and he previously served as Microsoft's executive vice president of the cloud and enterprise group.

Nadella's peers likely think he deserves a big salary, as he steered the company toward alternative markets like cloud computing and augmented reality rather than the company's faltering mobile strategy. Microsoft reported $168 billion in total revenue for 2021, an increase of 17.5 percent, and $7.8 billion in the first quarter of 2022.

Satya Nadella's total income amounted to $49.8 million, including a salary of $2.5 million, in addition to bonuses equivalent to $14.2 million, stock incentives of $33 million, and other forms of income worth $109,000.

Robert A. Kotik, CEO, Activision Blizzard ($296.7 million)

In 1991, Robert Kottek was appointed CEO of Activision, among the most famous products of the game giants Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.

Kotik earned $296.7 million in restricted stock value acquired last year. Despite Kotik's personal handling of the company's assault allegations and numerous lawsuits alleging harassment and gender discrimination, Microsoft decided to buy Activision in January for $68.7 billion, making it the company's largest acquisition to date.

Kotik's income amounted to 826.5 thousand dollars, of which 108.5 thousand dollars came from various sources of income, and a salary of 718,000 dollars.

Hook E Tan, CEO of Broadcom ($288 million)

Tan, who grew up in Malaysia, received a scholarship to attend MIT before starting his career and has been CEO of Broadcom since Avago bought the semiconductor business in 2015 for $37 billion.

Broadcom is a leading provider of infrastructure and semiconductor software, a multinational technology company that uses infrastructure software, semiconductor products, and IP licensing to operate. In 2021, the company's revenue increased by 14.9% to reach $27.4 billion.

Tan's income is about $60 million, including a salary of $1.2 million, a bonus of $5.4 million, $54 million in stock and 46,000 in other forms of income.

Safra Katz, CEO, Oracle Corporation ($239.5 million)

Safra Katz has come a long but rewarding path. Prior to joining Oracle as Senior Vice President in 1999, she worked as a banker. She then joined Mark Hurd as co-CEO of Oracle in 2014. With Heard retiring in 2019 due to health concerns, Katz took over as CEO.

Oracle has experienced slow revenue growth in recent years despite offering products and services that address many aspects of corporate IT setups, and is best known for its database software.

Katz's total income is about $10 million, with a salary of 950,000, 9 million bonuses, and 96,000 other forms of income. Katz's net worth is $1.4 billion, to be listed at number 19 on Forbes' 2022 list of self-made women in the United States, and she is ranked 1922 on Forbes' list of billionaires for 2022.