Indian-origin executive Shankh Mitra has secured a place among the world’s highest-paid corporate leaders after receiving a compensation package worth $821 million (around ₹7,061 crore), making him the second-highest paid chief executive among S&P 500 companies, according to The Wall Street Journal’s annual ranking.
The Welltower CEO ranked only behind Tesla chief , whose reported compensation package stood at $158.4 billion. While Musk continues to top the list, Mr Mitra’s compensation is among the largest awarded to the chief executive of a public company over the past decade.
₹7,061-Crore Compensation Places Shankh Behind Elon Musk
According to The Wall Street Journal, executive compensation saw a strong rebound in 2025, with more chief executives earning packages worth over $100 million than in any year since 2021.
Among them, Mr Mitra stood out with a compensation package valued at $821 million. The amount has also put the spotlight on his wealth creation potential, with the value of the underlying stock awards having already crossed $1 billion, subject to long-term performance conditions.
He heads US-based Welltower, a real estate investment trust that focuses on senior housing and healthcare infrastructure.
Nearly Entire Pay Package Linked To Stock Awards
Almost all of Mr Mitra’s compensation is performance-linked rather than cash-based.
According to The Wall Street Journal, nearly 99 per cent of his total package came through stock grants, including an equity award worth $789 million that was granted in October.
“At Welltower, 99% of Mitra’s pay came from stock grants, including $789 million awarded in October. By year-end, the company said shares underlying the award were valued at just over $1 billion,” the report said.
The stock award comes with long-term conditions attached. About half of the shares are scheduled to vest in 2031, provided Mr Mitra continues with the company. The remaining shares depend on Welltower increasing its market value by 45 per cent while outperforming multiple stock market indices over a five-year period.
From Jadavpur University To Leading Welltower
Born and raised in India, Mr Mitra completed a Bachelor of Engineering in Instrumentation and Electronics Engineering from Jadavpur University before moving to the United States for higher education.
He later earned an MBA in Applied Value Investing from Columbia Business School.
Mr Mitra began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving into investment management. Over the years, he held senior investment roles at Fidelity Investments, Citadel Investment Group and Millennium Management, where he worked as a portfolio manager focused on real estate securities.
At Millennium Management, he led a team of investment professionals responsible for bottom-up underwriting of commercial real estate companies and portfolios, security selection, quantitative portfolio management and risk management.
He joined Welltower in 2016 as Senior Vice President of Finance and Investments before rising through the ranks as Head of Investments, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October 2020.
Nikesh Arora Also Features In Top 10
Another Indian-origin executive featured in The Wall Street Journal’s ranking was Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, who secured the eighth spot with total compensation of $100 million.
Mr Arora earned a B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University before completing an M.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Finance from Boston College in the United States.
Before taking charge at Palo Alto Networks, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of SoftBank Group and spent nearly a decade at Google, where he eventually became Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer.
The ranking also included George Kurtz of CrowdStrike Holdings, Hock Tan of Broadcom, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs among the world’s highest-paid CEOs.
The report noted that Figma CEO Dylan Field’s compensation package of $864 million was not included in the rankings because the company is not part of the S&P 500.
While the compensation package has brought Mr Mitra global attention, most of its value remains tied to long-term stock performance and company growth targets, making it contingent on Welltower’s future performance rather than immediate cash earnings.