US-Based CEOs Dominate ASX Top 10 Earners; Hulls Tops List at $47.7M

American executives now dominate Australia’s highest-paid CEO list. Life360 co-founder Chris Hulls collected $47.7 million in the 2024-25 financial year, nearly 500 times the full-time average wage. Five of the top 10 earners are US-based, the first time offshore bosses have claimed half the top spots on the ASX. The shift raises questions about whether Silicon Valley pay practices are taking root in Australian boardrooms.

Hulls leads the pack with record pay

Chris Hulls, Life360’s executive chairman, earned $47.7 million in realised pay for the year ending June 30, 2025, according to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors report released July 15. His base salary was AUD 1.55 million, with nearly AUD 43 million coming from share options. Life360 delivered total shareholder returns of just under 50 per cent in the same period. Hulls, who lives in the United States, has led the Silicon Valley-based location-sharing app for almost two decades since co-founding it.

Five US executives now in the top 10

ResMed CEO Mick Farrell ($35.2 million) and News Corporation CEO Robert Thomson ($33.6 million) ranked second and third. All three are based in the US. This is the first time in the study’s history that outsiders have taken half of the top 10 spots, though US-based CEOs have always featured in previous reports. The shift reflects differences in corporate culture, with Australian investors demanding performance hurdles while American boardrooms apply lower standards, according to ACSI’s executive manager Ed John.

Australian CEOs lag behind offshore peers

The highest-paid Australian-based CEO was Sigma Healthcare’s Vikesh Ramsunder at AUD 36.62 million, following the company’s merger with Chemist Warehouse. Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake took the second Australian spot at AUD 30.39 million. The median ASX100 CEO earned AUD 4.8 million in the 2024-25 financial year, up 16 per cent from the prior year. Average realised pay for ASX100 CEOs reached AUD 6.005 million, up from AUD 5.732 million the previous year.

Pay growth concentrated at the top

While median CEO pay rose 16 per cent, base salaries have actually stagnated over the past 15 years. The median base pay of an ASX100 CEO was AUD 1.83 million in 2025, below the AUD 1.95 million recorded in 2012. Growth has been driven by ballooning bonuses and share-based incentives tied to company performance. The gap between highest-paying companies and the rest of the market has widened, with top-end variable incentive opportunities rising 50 percentage points over three years while the median rose just 9 percentage points.

Final Thoughts

US-based CEOs are reshaping ASX pay benchmarks through international comparators and share-based incentives. Australian boards remain disciplined compared to US counterparts, but the influx of offshore executives signals potential pressure on local pay practices.

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