Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group Inc., remained the highest-paid CEO among both asset managers and all U.S. financial services companies as his $86.4 million all-cash compensation jumped 51% year over year.
Schwarzman's total compensation more than doubled the $42.0 million in compensation paid to both George Roberts and Henry Kravis, joint CEOs of KKR & Co. Inc.
Nine of the 10 highest-paid U.S. asset manager CEOs received a boost in total compensation in 2020, leaving Ameriprise Financial Inc.'s James Cracchiolo as the only CEO to see a decrease year over year.
Morgan Stanley's James Gorman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s David Solomon remained the two highest-paid CEOs of U.S. investment banks, brokers, or capital market companies in 2020, even as both saw a slight decrease in total compensation.
Gorman received $29.5 million in adjusted compensation last year, down 6.6% from 2019, while Solomon's compensation fell 2.9% to $23.9 million.
Goldman Sachs' board docked $10 million from Solomon's 2020 salary for the company's role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd. corruption scandal. While Solomon was not CEO at the time the scandal broke or aware of any illicit activity, the board considered the issue an "institutional failure" and docked his compensation.
Unlike their asset manager peers, half of the 10 highest-paid CEOs of investment banks, brokers, and capital markets, received a cut in total compensation in 2020.
Capital One Financial Corp.'s Richard Fairbank overtook Synchrony Financial's Margaret Keane as the highest-paid specialty finance company CEO in 2020 as his total adjusted compensation more than doubled to $20.1 million while Keane's compensation rose only 6.3% to $12.9 million. Earlier this year, Keane transitioned to the role of executive chair of the board.
