For the first time, a CEO of a listed company in our country earned more than 10 million euros annually. Not one, but two: Ilham Kadri of the chemical group Solvay and Tim Van Hauwermeiren of the biotech company Argenx. That reports The time.
Ilham Kadri was the best-earning CEO in 2023 in the Bel20, the 20 most important listed companies in our country. She owes this to the exceptional bonus of 12 million euros she received for the split of Solvay at the end of last year into two separate listed companies, Solvay and Syensqo.
That bonus for Kadri was on top of her ‘normal’ remuneration of 5.3 million euros. This brings her total package to 17.3 million euros. It is also the first time that the 10 million barrier has been broken.
Kadri is not the only one who has completed this milestone. Tim Van Hauwermeiren, the CEO of Argenx, also succeeded in this. He earned 10.75 million euros last year. In addition to his fixed salary of 590,000 euros and a cash bonus of 553,000 euros, he received stock options worth 7.6 million euros.
The exceptional bonus for Kadri boosted the average remuneration of Belgium’s top CEOs to 3.29 million euros, a quarter higher than in 2022. If that bonus is not taken into account, the average was 2.69 million euros, the same level as the year before. That is 56 times as much as what an average employee in our country earns: a gross annual salary of about 47,600 euros.