Two years ago, former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky scored a big pay raise to make him among the industry's best-paid helmsmen in 2020. While his overall pay declined by several million dollars in 2021, it's still likely enough to place him among the industry's top ranks.
In 2021—the year Gorsky said he'd step down and hand over the reins to Joaquin Duato—the former J&J helmsman scored $26.74 million in total pay. That represented about a 10% decline from his $29.58 million in total pay the year before.
While many components of Gorsky's pay package stayed the same—or increased—in 2021, his change in pension value shrank considerably. During 2020, that component of Gorsky's pay totaled $6.43 million. Las year, it fell to $676,000.
Elsewhere in Gorsky's 2021 pay package, the former CEO earned a $1.65 million salary, a number that was unchanged since 2019. His stock awards grew by more than $1 million to $14.79 million, and his option awards also grew to more than $5 million.
Gorsky's non-equity bonus pay also grew by more than $1 million to $4.25 million. In that category, the company awarded a $3.75 million bonus to the former helmsman, acknowledging J&J's progress toward financial and strategic goals. Those goals included a push to grow sales of "key platforms across our portfolio" while recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, among others.
In "other" pay, the former J&J CEO recorded $277,071 in compensation related to perquisites, insurance premiums and more.
As for J&J's new CEO Joaquin Duato, who took the reins Jan. 3, he recorded $13.8 million in total pay last year as vice chairman of the company's executive committee.
While not all drugmakers have reported 2021 CEO pay, Gorsky's compensation package should be enough to place him in the industry's top ranks once again. He's been a regular on Fierce Pharma's list of best-paid pharma CEOs year in and year out, and that's not likely to change for 2021, his final year as J&J's CEO.
Last year, Gorsky's $29.58 million pay package was enough to earn him the No. 3 spot in the rankings. So far in 2021 disclosures, his pay has come in ahead of many peers.
For instance, the CEOs for Novartis and Roche each scored more than $12 million in 2021 pay, while AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot nabbed more than $18 million.