Facebook C.E.O ' Mark Zuckerberg ' Receives A Dollar As A Year Salary

Forum 7 years ago

Facebook C.E.O ' Mark Zuckerberg ' Receives A Dollar As A Year Salary

You may have read about articles about the top paid tech company CEO’s in the United States.
India’s own Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google took home $100.5 million in 2015 while his compatriot, Satya Nadella of Microsoft took home $84 million (2014 figures).

While salaries of top tech company CEOs may alarm most purists, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of worlds most popular social networking website, Facebook, draws a measly salary of $1 per year.

Yes, you heard it right. While there are many CEO’s who have announced a token $1 salary per year but take home stock options and other bonuses, Zuckerberg has denied himself any bonus, new stock options or new equity awards from Facebook.

In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he is giving up his salary and will only be drawing $1 per year in the capacity of Facebook’s CEO. While answering a question in one of his Q&A; sessions on Facebook he said:

“I’ve made enough money. At this point, I’m just focused on making sure I do the most possible good with what I have. The main way I can help is through Facebook — giving people the power to share and connecting the world. I’m also focusing on my education and health philanthropy work outside of Facebook as well. Too many people die unnecessarily and don’t get the opportunities they deserve. There are lots of things in the world that need to get fixed and I’m just lucky to have the chance to work on fixing some of them.”

Ever since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, there has been a growing trend among CEO’s to take a token $1 salary per year. Others CEOs who draw a base pay of $1 are Hewlett-Packard’s Meg Whitman, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Google co-founder Larry Page.

The story behind the $1 salary package per year comes from the times of World War I. When the wars sagged the US economy, many businesses came forward to help US government mobilise and run the American industries. Since the US law does not allow the government to deploy people who give services for free, the concept of $1 salary was born. They were paid a nominal salary of $1 ratifying their legal employment with the government.