SpaceX president made $86M in 2025. Musk earned $54k

SpaceX president and COO Gwynne Shotwell raked in a whopping $85.8 million in total compensation last year, according to a company prospectus. The figure makes her one of the highest-paid executives in the US. Elon Musk, the CEO and majority shareholder of SpaceX, paid himself a much lower salary of just $54,080 for 2025. SpaceX's Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnson earned a total compensation of $9.8 million last year.

Shotwell's massive pay package included a base salary of $1 million, with the majority coming from stock options and awards. The numbers put Shotwell's pay above many other high-profile tech executives such as Microsoft's Satya Nadella, who earned $79 million in 2024, and Apple's Tim Cook, who took home $75 million. The details were revealed in an excerpt from SpaceX's S-1 filing, a registration document companies use to disclose finances and risks before going public.