CEO: Simon Gillespie. Up from £188,871 in 2017. In 2016, he received big grants of stock options and restricted shares that would be his if Charter’s share price exceeded certain thresholds over the coming years. But any one-time grant meant to compensate an executive for several years is allocated over the life of the award, as explained in regulatory filings. They also include the value of awarded stock options and restricted shares that may yield payoffs in the future. The money stems from the pay deal he scored a couple of years ago: A promise of a haul in the tens of billions of dollars if Tesla Inc. became one of the world’s most valuable firms. No one embodies this better than Elon Musk, the space and electric-car titan who was the highest-paid executive in the U.S. for 2019 with $595.3 million, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index. Nowhere has this been more pronounced than in tech. So far, about half the options he got in 2016 have vested. To some, astronomical executive pay represents part of the fundamental lure of American capitalism: That great wealth is within reach for anyone who works hard enough. On the other hand, if the goals are exceeded, the windfall could be significantly bigger than initially estimated. Its figures show that in 2013 the median annual basic salary among those polled came out as £60,000, whereas it had fallen to £50,000 by 2017, where it remained last year. Stock awards, which make up the bulk of their pay, are often contingent on performance conditions, and payouts are usually reduced or eliminated if those aren’t met. British Heart Foundation. For comparison purposes, all such equity awards are valued at each company’s fiscal year-end, not the date they were granted. In the meantime, he wouldn’t receive any additional equity, only his salary and bonus. For Singh and every other executive, the index counts almost all annual grants of shares or options in the year they’re bestowed, not when they vest. But as the coronavirus pandemic lays bare the country’s economic inequalities, critics again point out the reality obscured by the rebounding stock market: An economy that’s working extraordinarily well for some but less so for many others. The securities are meant to pay him for a decade. To others, it’s a reminder of how inequitably the riches are shared—an imbalance that has become even more pronounced as millions of Americans, but few executives, have lost their jobs during the pandemic while stocks have soared. Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world.