Despite IBM’s Performance, Here’s Why Ginni Rometty’s Bonus Is Nowhere Near Big Enough

Ben Sullivan,

Blog: Compared to male CEO rivals, IBM’s Rometty seems to be coming up a little short

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty will be taking home a $3.6m annual incentive payout for 2014, on top of her annual salary of around $1.5m.

That’s a bucket load of money, especially considering IBM’s recent performance. Its realignment to a cloud computing world has hit the firm hard, some would argue, with it posting 11 consecutive quarters of revenue decline.

In 2014, there was only one female in the top 10 list of highest paid tech CEOs

But despite Rometty’s gargantuan bonuses, compared to her male counterparts, it’s clear to see they weren’t nearly high enough..

Virginia Rometty ascended to the CEO position in January 2012, doubling her previous salary of around $800,000. But in 2014, there was only one female in the top 10 list of highest paid tech CEOs, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo.

Rometty’s predecessor, Samuel Palmisano, took home a $6.5m bonus in 2011, and raked in a total of $37 million in the ten months serving as chairman until October 2012.

That same year, Rometty earned a total of $16.1m, which included salary and stock awards. This breaks down as her $1.5m basic salary, a $4m bonus, and $9m inIBM long term stock awards.

Now let’s compare this to Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who claimed $67.3m in 2014, and Salesforce’s Benioff with his $31.3m in 2013.

Last year, Microsoft head Satya Nadella famously guffed up at a women in computing conference, saying on stage that females don’t need to ask for a raise, but rather put their ‘trust in the system’.

“It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” Nadella said.

IBM: Higher revenue, less pay

Rometty has just started, you might think? Surely she has to prove herself as a competent leader before the money starts rolling in? But just a quick glance at some competitors 2014 revenues will show you that despite IBM’s earnings, which are more than most, Rometty actually takes home less. In 2014, IBM’s total revenue came in at $92.8 billion. Compare this figure to Oracle’s $38.3bn, Salesforce’s $4 billion and Cisco’s $47.1bn, these firms’ male CEOs seem to be getting paid a lot more.

How much do you know about startups and investments? Take our quiz here!