July 15, 2026 — 5:00amHalf of the 10 highest-paid chief executives on the Australian stock exchange lead companies which are based in the United States.New research released on Tuesday by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) shows that while pay levels for chief executives continued to plateau last financial year, thanks to heightened scrutiny from investors and boards, bosses of companies domiciled in the US were paid the biggest salaries for the first time in the study’s history.Life360 chief executive Chris Hulls was the highest-paid CEO on the ASX in the 2025 financial year.Chris Hulls, chief executive of location sharing app Life360, was the highest-paid chief executive on the ASX, with a total pay packet of $47.7 million, a figure which accounts for base salary, plus bonuses and the value of share options.The San Francisco-based company listed on the ASX in 2019 in part because Hulls felt it was not yet ready to attract serious public market capital. It has since also listed on the Nasdaq.US-based chief executives made up the top three on the list, with Hulls followed by ResMed boss Mick Farrell and News Corporation’s Robert Thomson, who topped last year’s rankings.Sigma Healthcare chief executive Vikesh Ramsunder was the best-paid Australian-based chief executive, taking home $36.62 million following the company’s merger with Chemist Warehouse, which was finalised last year. Macquarie Group chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake took the second Australian spot with a $30.39 million salary.ACSI’s executive manager of stewardship, Ed John, said while it was too soon to determine whether the relative dominance of US-based companies was the new normal, the change could be a reflection of a difference in corporate cultures between the two countries.“Australian investors demand performance hurdles, whereas the standards are much lower in American boardrooms,” he said. “Australian shareholders are a bit more willing to hold boards accountable.”That increased scrutiny has seen the fixed pay of ASX100 CEOs stagnate and decline in real terms, ACSI found, with last year’s median salary of $1.83 million well below the record of $1.95 million in 2012.This year’s data also reflects a difference in chief executive remuneration between Australia and the US. Here, the chief executive of an ASX100 company earns 55 times the salary of an average worker. In the US, research from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington DC think tank, found that top chief executives were paid 281 times more than a typical worker.John said that this year’s results also indicated that Australian investors expect pay to reflect performance. “Most of the highest-paid listed companies have delivered strong performance,” he said.But ACSI had some concerns around annual bonuses. This year’s report shows that an ASX100 chief executive is more likely to lose their job than their bonus. Ten bosses left their jobs in the past financial year, while just five missed out on their bonus.The ACSI report found that for each of the past 11 years, barring the COVID-influenced 2019-20 financial year, ASX100 chief executives received a median bonus of between 60 and 77 per cent of maximum bonus levels.“It looks like bonuses are becoming a given in some ASX100 companies,” John said.“Companies need to focus on outcomes to make sure bonuses are linked to strong performance. Otherwise we get that ‘everyone wins a prize’ culture which undermines investor confidence,” he told this masthead.The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.From our partners