AMD CEO Lisa Su is First Woman to Top AP CEO Pay Analysis

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su has won plenty of accolades over the last several years as she has led her company from the edge of bankruptcy to the top performer on the S&P 500 in both 2018 and 2019. Still, she has apparently also racked up plenty of success on a more personal front: Lisa Su is the first woman to lead the AP's CEO pay analysis for the S&P 500, beating out all other CEOs with her healthy $58.5 million compensation in 2019. That's incredibly impressive given that women CEOs lead only 5% of companies on the S&P 500.  

There are a few caveats to the achievement; to negate the impact of signing bonuses, AP's CEO pay list doesn't include executives that have served fewer than two fiscal years at their respective companies. But that doesn't take the shine off of Su's compensation, which also includes stock awards, bonuses, and other compensation. For perspective, the second-highest-paid CEO on the list, David Zaslav of Discovery, took home $45.8 million in pay. In contrast, the second-ranked woman, Marillyn A. Hewson of Lockheed Martin, took home a 'mere' $24.4 million.

The AP's two-year restriction means we can't see how Intel CEO Bob Swan stacks up, and we also can't find Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on the list, though salary.com predicts he took home $13.6 million (take that number with a grain of salt).

Despite a $1 million base salary, Su's compensation rose by 338% from the year prior, driven by a $1.2 million performance bonus, $53 million in stock awards, and $3 million in stock options. The stock awards are obviously particularly handsome given AMD's stellar market performance: AMD's stock has risen from $2.80 when Su took the reigns in 2014 to an astounding $52.74 at the time of writing. In fact, Su also helmed the company to its highest share price in its storied 50-year history of $58.90 in February 2020. Both of these values exceed the company's previous record of $47.50 set back in 2000. 

Su, who holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, has been largely credited for AMD's resurgence. Su has led the company back to profitability and competitiveness, earning multiple plaudits for her work along the way, including being recognized by Forbes 50 for being one of the top 50 world leaders, among numerous other recognitions. Much of the company's current success is due to its share gains against its primary competitor in the CPU market, Intel, and continued execution on the graphics side of its business. AMD is currently focused on continuing to execute on its ambitious roadmap of new CPUs and GPUs, and if successful, that portends another stellar year in 2021.

Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

  • Integr8d
    And in case she happens to read this; I’m totally available, Lisa!!!
    Reply
  • velocityg4
    Given what massive gains AMD has made in technology and the market with her at the helm. She certainly earned it. If AMD continues to improve. That $53 million stock award will grow in value considerably.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    Integr8d said:
    And in case she happens to read this; I’m totally available, Lisa!!!
    You're going to have to fight Paul for the honors. ;-)
    Reply
  • Deicidium369
    velocityg4 said:
    Given what massive gains AMD has made in technology and the market with her at the helm. She certainly earned it. If AMD continues to improve. That $53 million stock award will grow in value considerably.
    Massive gain is from MASSIVE 200:1 P/E ratio. Market average is 16:1 - Intel is 12:1. AMD stock should be in the low single digit range.
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    Deicidium369 said:
    Massive gain is from MASSIVE 200:1 P/E ratio. Market average is 16:1 - Intel is 12:1. AMD stock should be in the low single digit range.
    Your P/E ratio for AMD is off by a lot. The NASDAQ rates their 2019 P/E Ratio at 109.88 with 2020 Estimates at 63.54. Does that mean that AMD has a large P/E Ratio, yes. However, as AMD continues to come out of the red that ratio will lower as the EPS goes higher.
    Reply
  • cyrusfox
    The article acts like they can't google search to see what Bob Swan's compensation was for 2019, Pretty easy to see here in the first link it was 66.9M. Lisa is doing pretty well at a tenth the revneue of Intel that year. a few million off and if she continues to out execute, I would bet her salary will surpass that of the head of Intel. Lots of growth potential.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    cyrusfox said:
    The article acts like they can't google search to see what Bob Swan's compensation was for 2019, Pretty easy to see here in the first link it was 66.9M. Lisa is doing pretty well at a tenth the revenue of Intel that year. a few million off and if she continues to out execute, I would bet her salary will surpass that of the head of Intel. Lots of growth potential.
    Does that compensation include any "first two years" bonuses, though? I think that's part of the reason for omitting the direct comparison.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    jeremyj_83 said:
    Your P/E ratio for AMD is off by a lot. The NASDAQ rates their 2019 P/E Ratio at 109.88 with 2020 Estimates at 63.54. Does that mean that AMD has a large P/E Ratio, yes. However, as AMD continues to come out of the red that ratio will lower as the EPS goes higher.

    https://ycharts.com/companies/AMD/pe_ratio

    120.56 right now for AMD. Intel at 12.03. You can nitpick the numbers, but his overall point is valid. Bringing AMD in line with Intel at 1/10, it is well in the single digits for stock price.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Deicidium369 said:
    Massive gain is from MASSIVE 200:1 P/E ratio. Market average is 16:1 - Intel is 12:1. AMD stock should be in the low single digit range.
    I'm still not sure you're reading this correctly. What the high P/E reflects is investors' confidence in AMD's future performance.

    It's fair to point out, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're overvalued, or at least by as much as you suggest. If you go back and look at historical market data, you'll find that P/E tends to be a leading indicator.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    cyrusfox said:
    The article acts like they can't google search to see what Bob Swan's compensation was for 2019,
    You act like you didn't read the article! It clearly says the list is by AP, and that they excluded CEOs who have been in the position for 2 years or less.

    Now, I don't mind pointing that out, because I was already going to ask just how many CEOs that knocked out of the running. Since the tenure of S&P 500 CEOs is often rather short, I wouldn't be surprised if at least a 3rd didn't qualify for the rankings.
    Reply