Massachusetts' 50 highest-paid chief executives pulled in more than $1 billion in reported pay for fiscal 2025, and a lot of people are now asking whether boards really got their money’s worth. A new ranking digs into that exact question by measuring how much market value each dollar of CEO pay actually created, and the results are all over the map depending on the sector.
The Boston Business Journal analyzed compensation figures from SEC proxy filings and stacked those numbers against changes in revenue and market capitalization to calculate market value created, or lost, per dollar of CEO pay. Looking only at the 50 top-paid executives statewide, the outlet found that their combined compensation broke the $1 billion mark for 2025 and identified GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik as the standout on a per-dollar basis, credited with generating more than $4,000 in market value for every dollar of his pay, according to the Boston Business Journal.
How The Top Performer Stacks Up
Strazik’s showing in the ranking reflects both GE Vernova’s 2025 share performance and how his pay is structured. His package blends base salary, annual incentives and long-term equity awards. The company’s 2025 proxy breaks down those components and lays out the compensation committee’s reasoning for leaning hard on equity, which feeds directly into the numbers used in the per-dollar calculation. The specifics are detailed in the company’s 2025 proxy statement.
Big Checks, Mixed Returns
Huge paydays did not always translate into equally huge market gains. Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah, for instance, received roughly $280.6 million in stock awards that pushed his 2025 disclosed compensation into the hundreds of millions. At the same time, other chiefs with far smaller pay packages ended up ranking higher on the Business Journal’s value-per-dollar list, as reported by Boston.com.
Local Stakes: Boards, Workers And Activists
The BBJ figures highlight a growing tension in Greater Boston: boards are increasingly leaning on rich equity grants to lure and reward top leaders even as some companies cut staff or tap the brakes on hiring. Hoodline documented outsized life-sciences CEO pay amid thousands of layoffs earlier this spring, a local split-screen that helps explain why value-per-dollar metrics have turned into a flashpoint.
As proxy season rolls on, expect say-on-pay votes and shareholder letters to press boards on whether those equity awards are delivering durable value for employees and communities as well as for investors. Company filings and board responses will offer the next clues about how much pressure these pay packages are really under.
