Pfizer has already made tens of billions of dollars in sales from its star COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty. For his work in steering the ship, the company's CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., is cashing in as well.
Bourla scored a $1.69 million salary last year, plus $8 million in a cash bonus and more than $13 million in equity awards. He also scored $1.38 million in "other compensation" such as a car and driver, personal use of the company's airplane and home security. In all, his total compensation package came in at $24.35 million, nearly 16% more than his $21 million compensation in 2020.
At a meeting last month, Pfizer's compensation committee approved $24.7 million in total direct compensation for its CEO in 2022. Under that package, Bourla is set to collect $1.75 million in salary, plus nearly $23 million in short- and long-term equity awards.
Pfizer has become a household name during the pandemic, and Bourla played a leading role. The company leaped up the ranks of the industry's biggest players by sales, largely thanks to Comirnaty, which broke industry records on its way to $36.7 billion in 2021 sales.
As for 2022, Pfizer expects about $100 billion in revenues, with $54 billion expected to come from its COVID-19 vaccine and newly approved oral drug for the virus, Paxlovid.
Aside from sales accolades, Pfizer "continued to experience strong rankings in reputational polls in 2021," the company said in its proxy (PDF). Its products reached an estimated 1.4 billion people.
The drugmaker also completed four deals to bolster its mRNA portfolio and added to its offerings in cancer and rare diseases.
Not all drugmakers have reported CEO pay for 2021, but Bourla's package comes in short of the CEO compensation awarded by Pfizer's largest rival Johnson & Johnson. Alex Gorsky, now the company's executive chairman, reaped $26.74 million in total pay last year, a decline from nearly $30 million the year before.
As for European drugmakers, 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.