Analyse zum Geschäftsjahr 2025: Dax-Vorstände verdienen 42 Mal so viel wie die Beschäftigten

In 2025, the average CEO of the 40 companies in the German stock index received an average annual compensation of nearly 3.9 million euros, representing 42 times the salary of an average employee. This figure, reported by the annual evaluation of the German Securities Investors' Association (DSW) and Munich Technical University, reflected a 4% increase compared to the previous year.

Most of these salaries consisted of performance-based bonuses paid with a delay. The total Dax CEOs' compensation reached an average of around 6.14 million euros, with two cases exceeding the "magical barrier of 10 million euros", deemed "socially and also internally within the companies sustainable", by DSW's Chief Executive Officer Marc Tüngler.

SAP Chief Christian Klein earned approximately 10.9 million euros, with 86% of his compensation coming from variable elements tied to business performance. Deutsche Bank's Christian Sewing received 10.5 million euros, with 64% of his pay in short and long-term bonuses dependent on business success. While CEO salaries in the United States can be significantly higher, such compensation levels for top executives in Germany remain relatively modest.

The CEOs of Euro Stoxx 50 companies, excluding the listed German companies, earned an average of 9.5 million euros for the 2025 business year. In contrast, the CEOs of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average averaged 30.5 million euros. At the top of the DJIA ranking is David M. Solomon from Goldman Sachs, who received an estimated 105.3 million euros in total compensation, 93.3 million of which were long-term variable elements.

Following him are Satya Nadella from Microsoft and Tim Cook from Apple, with earnings of 85.5 million and 65.8 million euros, respectively.