America's highest-paid CEO isn't Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg — so who is?

America's highest-paid CEO isn't Apple's Tim Cook, Tesla's Elon Musk, or Meta Platforms' Mark Zuckerberg — it's Broadcom's Hock Tan, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) found in an analysis published this week.

Tan, 71, was awarded $162 million in compensation last year, but he'll only receive the full amount if his company's stock hits a certain level by 2025, the WSJ said.

Broadcom said that Tan's pay was also dependent on him remaining in his role for another five years and that he wouldn't get any more equity or cash bonuses until that period had passed.

According to  Business Insider, the semiconductor company's shares are up 27% this year and 106% over the past 12 months, lifting its total market capitalization to $655 billion.

Malaysia-born Tan has been Broadcom's CEO since 2006 and previously topped the WSJ's list in 2017 when he was awarded $103 million.

According to the analysis, two other CEOs made nine-figure salaries in 2023: Palo Alto Networks' Nikesh Arora and Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman.

Arora made $151 million, mostly in share grants covering the next three years.

Meanwhile, Schwarzman, known for his opulent lifestyle and his past support of Donald Trump, earned $120 million.

Shares in Palo Alto Networks and Blackstone jumped 110% and 54% last year, respectively.

Apple's Tim Cook, Netflix's Ted Sarandos, and Warner Bros Discovery's David Zaslav also cracked the list of the US's 10 best-paid CEOs.