IBM boss Arvind Krishna pockets 23% pay rise to $25M
(2025/03/14)
- Reference: 1741959908
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/03/14/ibm_arvind_kerching_pay/
- Source link:
CEO salary watch IBM emperor Arvind Krishna's total financial package went up by double digits in 2024 to more than $25 million.
Chairman, CEO, and president Krishna [1]received $1.5 million in salary, $14.8 million in stock awards, $4.49 million in option awards, $3.5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, $34,000 in pension contributions, and $425,000 for all other compensation.
IBM Consulting workers told management wants to 'more closely align pay, performance' [2]READ MORE
This was 23.1 percent more than what Big Blue's top dog was deemed worthy of in [3]2023 , and is certainly a cut above the median employee annual total compensation of IBM's workforce, which was $48,582 versus $43,069 in the prior year.
The relatively low financial package for the overall workforce is likely due to IBM employing a huge swathe of its employees in [4]lower-wage locations such as India .
In terms of the financial metrics IBM applies to Krishna's compensation, he scored above expectations (102 percent) for the revenue generation target, below (90 percent) on operating earnings per share, and nearly hit the goal on free cash flow.
[5]
For calendar 2024, IBM reported revenue of $62.8 billion, up 1 percent year-on-year. This included a more than 75 percent contribution from software and consulting services.
[6]
[7]
The target for operating EPS was $33.10, but IBM attained $29.94. Free cash flow reached $33.8 billion, compared to a forecast of $34.6 billion.
[8]As Elon Musk makes thousands of federal workers jobless, tycoon pushes for $56B Tesla pay deal
[9]Satya Nadella asked for 50% cut in his incentive payout over security failures
[10]HP CEO pay for 2024 = 261,658 toner cartridges
[11]Tim cooking up the dough as his Apple pay rises 18% to $74.6M
Highlights included $1 billion in GenAI "book of business" revenue in the Software division and $4 billion in Consulting.
IBM seeks $3.5B in cost savings for 2025, discretionary spend to be clipped [12]READ MORE
IBM also flagged the $3.5 billion annual run rate in productivity savings made since 2022. This helped gross margin grow year-on-year by 1.2 percent to 57 percent. The relatively fat margins from software and consulting are a thing of beauty (well, they were for Krishna).
Shareholders saw a payout too, as $6.1 billion was returned to stock owners.
Krishna's colleagues in the C-suite won't be scrambling around for loose change either. CFO James Kavanaugh received a remuneration package of $13 million, up from $11.7 million, and head of software Robert Thomas got $11.85 million, up from $10.33 million.
[13]
It's tough at the top but someone's got to do it. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000110465925022186/tm2430706-6_def14aseq1.htm
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/ibm_consulting/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/15/ibm_ceo_pay_jumps_23/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/31/one_third_ibm_staff_in_india_bangladesh/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/12/elon_musk_appeals_voided_pay_package/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/28/satya_nadella_security/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/26/hp_ceo_pay_for_2024/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/tim_cook_apple_salary/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/30/ibm_q4_2024/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Chairman, CEO, and president Krishna [1]received $1.5 million in salary, $14.8 million in stock awards, $4.49 million in option awards, $3.5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, $34,000 in pension contributions, and $425,000 for all other compensation.
IBM Consulting workers told management wants to 'more closely align pay, performance' [2]READ MORE
This was 23.1 percent more than what Big Blue's top dog was deemed worthy of in [3]2023 , and is certainly a cut above the median employee annual total compensation of IBM's workforce, which was $48,582 versus $43,069 in the prior year.
The relatively low financial package for the overall workforce is likely due to IBM employing a huge swathe of its employees in [4]lower-wage locations such as India .
In terms of the financial metrics IBM applies to Krishna's compensation, he scored above expectations (102 percent) for the revenue generation target, below (90 percent) on operating earnings per share, and nearly hit the goal on free cash flow.
[5]
For calendar 2024, IBM reported revenue of $62.8 billion, up 1 percent year-on-year. This included a more than 75 percent contribution from software and consulting services.
[6]
[7]
The target for operating EPS was $33.10, but IBM attained $29.94. Free cash flow reached $33.8 billion, compared to a forecast of $34.6 billion.
[8]As Elon Musk makes thousands of federal workers jobless, tycoon pushes for $56B Tesla pay deal
[9]Satya Nadella asked for 50% cut in his incentive payout over security failures
[10]HP CEO pay for 2024 = 261,658 toner cartridges
[11]Tim cooking up the dough as his Apple pay rises 18% to $74.6M
Highlights included $1 billion in GenAI "book of business" revenue in the Software division and $4 billion in Consulting.
IBM seeks $3.5B in cost savings for 2025, discretionary spend to be clipped [12]READ MORE
IBM also flagged the $3.5 billion annual run rate in productivity savings made since 2022. This helped gross margin grow year-on-year by 1.2 percent to 57 percent. The relatively fat margins from software and consulting are a thing of beauty (well, they were for Krishna).
Shareholders saw a payout too, as $6.1 billion was returned to stock owners.
Krishna's colleagues in the C-suite won't be scrambling around for loose change either. CFO James Kavanaugh received a remuneration package of $13 million, up from $11.7 million, and head of software Robert Thomas got $11.85 million, up from $10.33 million.
[13]
It's tough at the top but someone's got to do it. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/51143/000110465925022186/tm2430706-6_def14aseq1.htm
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/24/ibm_consulting/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/15/ibm_ceo_pay_jumps_23/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2017/03/31/one_third_ibm_staff_in_india_bangladesh/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/12/elon_musk_appeals_voided_pay_package/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/28/satya_nadella_security/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/26/hp_ceo_pay_for_2024/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/tim_cook_apple_salary/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/30/ibm_q4_2024/
[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z9Rgsh54Ytz0ztFCF7W65gAAAAs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Obscene!
Mainframe Greybeard
There's something radically wrong in the world when the CEO earns over 500x what the median employee's salary is.
Exec pay should be capped at a reasonable multiplier (and to my mind, 500x is NOT reasonable) of average (mean or median, just pick a fair way to determine an 'average') employee's salary.
Lets face it, its the employees who do all the work. The C-level execs are just there to smile and wave.
A 23% Pay Raise and Inflation Outpaced Revenue Growth
Anonymous Coward
The article states: "For calendar 2024, IBM reported revenue of $62.8 billion, up 1 percent year-on-year."
The 2024 inflation rate from the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics: "The Consumer Prices Index for all items rose 2.9 percent from December 2023 to December 2024.
Wow, Arvind can't even keep up with inflation and gets a 23% pay raise?
Shareholders: "Fire the Board of Directors!" Oops, they probably got raises too?
Source:
Link to US Bureau of Labour statistics: https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2025/consumer-price-index-2024-in-review.htm
More executive greed
The people at the top are taking more and more of the earnings from the productivity of their workers, without sharing equally with those workers.
Those workers are living more and more as indentured wage slaves rather than free willed employees, as the cost of living overtakes their earnings and they essentially live to work, and their salary covers their existence outside work.