Shankh Mitra: Indian-Origin CEO Gets $821 Million, Second Only to Musk
Shankh Mitra, the Indian-origin chief executive of US-based healthcare real estate trust Welltower, received a compensation package worth $821 million in 2025, making him the second-highest-paid CEO globally after Elon Musk, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
Musk's compensation was valued at $158 billion. The report noted a sharp recovery in executive pay, with nearly a dozen CEOs earning over $200 million in 2025.
Mitra's journey began in Kolkata, where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Instrumentation and Electronics from Jadavpur University. He later moved to the US, obtaining an MBA in Applied Value Investing from Columbia Business School. Before joining Welltower in 2016, he worked at Citadel LLC and Millennium Management.
He became chief investment officer in 2018 and CEO in 2020. At the time, board members praised his leadership. Mitra said he was "humbled and honoured" to take the role.
Almost all of Mitra's compensation came through stock awards. About $789 million was linked to a stock award issued in October, whose value exceeded $1 billion by year-end due to stock performance. However, the payout depends on long-term goals: half the shares are due in 2031 only if he stays with Welltower, and the rest require meeting performance targets, including a 45% increase in market value and outperforming major indices over five years.
The report also highlighted three other Welltower executives receiving over $100 million each, making it one of the rare companies with four such high earners in one year. Other top-paid CEOs included George Kurtz ($248 million), Hock Tan ($205 million), David Zaslav ($165 million), and Stephen Schwarzman ($126 million). Another Indian-origin executive, Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, ranked eighth with $100 million.
