Top-Vergütung: Zehn Millionen und mehr – diese Dax-Vorstände verdienen am meisten
Die Vorstandsgehälter in den größten Konzernen steigen 2025 erneut – allen voran die der CEOs. Doch ein zentrales Thema, das die Vergütung künftig prägen dürfte, spielt bisher kaum eine Rolle.
In 2025, the top executives of the largest listed companies on the German Dax index earned significantly more than the previous year. According to calculations by the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz (DSW) and the Technical University of Munich, the average compensation package for these top managers amounted to around €3.9 million.
This represents a 4% increase compared to 2024. The rise in compensation is primarily driven by a small number of absolute top earners. At the same time, chief executives are increasingly separating from their executive boards: their average compensation rose by 6.8% in 2025, while the other board members increased by only 1.5%.
As a result, Dax CEOs earned an average of €6.1 million, nearly double the salary of their board counterparts, which amounted to €3.3 million without the presidents. Marc Tüngler, head of the DSW, acknowledges "new power relationships" in the changing landscape of executive compensation, which he attributes to "unsure times." The study's co-author, Jürgen Ernstberger, found that while long-term, variable criteria drive executive compensation, fixed payments and short-term data like quarterly results have become less significant.
However, Ernstberger expressed surprise that artificial intelligence did not emerge as the dominant factor in the analyzed compensation systems.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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