A person of Indian origin is at second place in the list of richest CEOs of American companies. He has received a record-breaking salary package of ₹7,061 crore. Know who?
Highest Paid Indian CEOs in America: Whenever we talk about the world’s richest people or highest earning CEOs, names like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos come to our mind, but a news has come from America’s business market which has made every Indian’s chest swell with pride. A new list of the highest paid CEOs in America has come. In this list, an Indian origin leader has occupied the second position just after the world’s richest person, Elon Musk. His name is Shankh Mitra. He has received a huge package of about $821 million i.e. about ₹7,061 crore. Not only this, another Indian tycoon is included in the top 10 of this list, Nikesh Arora, boss of cyber security company ‘Palo Alto Networks’, who is at number 8 with a package of ₹840 crore ($100 million). Let us know how Shankha Mitra, who studied from Jadavpur University, achieved this position…
Who is Shankha Mitra?
Shankha Mitra’s early education took place in India only. He took a degree in Electronics Engineering from the famous Jadavpur University of Kolkata. After this he went to America for further studies and completed MBA from Columbia Business School there. Before joining Welltower, he worked in investment and portfolio management at large global firms such as PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), Fidelity and Citadel. In the year 2016, he joined Welltower Company and on the basis of his excellent work, became the CEO of the company in October 2020.
What does Welltower do?
It is a very large real estate investment company (REIT) of America, which works to build and invest in high-tech homes for the elderly and healthcare related properties. Under the leadership of Shankh Mitra, this company has given a bumper return of 50% to its investors in the last one year.
How will Shankh Mitra get this much salary?
Hearing such a huge amount, one might wonder whether anyone can really get a salary of more than ₹7,000 crore in a year? Actually, this money is not given directly in cash or bank account to big executives in American companies. 99% of this entire package of Shankha Mitra is in the form of company shares (Stock Grants and RSUs). He has not received cash salary directly. It is not that they can withdraw money by selling these shares today itself. According to the agreement, he will get half of this amount in the year 2031 (provided he remains in the company till then). The remaining half depends on the company’s market value increasing by at least 45% in the next 5 years and it outperforming the rest of the stock market index. Meaning, when the company’s stock performs very well, the value of these shares increases and this package starts looking so big on paper. It is completely related to the company’s profits and market fluctuations.