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ISS-Corporate Report: Record CEO Pay, Strong Shareholder Backing Define 2026 Proxy Season
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U.S. 2026 Compensation Post-Season Review: Strong Investor Support Despite Resurgence of One-Time Grants

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    Press Release

    ISS-Corporate Report: Record CEO Pay, Strong Shareholder Backing Define 2026 Proxy Season

    NEW YORK (September 1, 2026) – ISS-Corporate, a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies globally, today announced the release of its 2026 U.S. Compensation Post-Season Review report examining trends in CEO compensation at U.S. companies and shareholder support for executive pay during the 2026 proxy season.

    The report finds record CEO pay levels and a resurgence in one-time equity awards, as increased market volatility led to a spike in discretionary pay adjustments to levels not seen since the pandemic. Despite the scrutiny these pay decisions often invite, investors were supportive: median say-on-pay support reached five-year highs while say-on-pay failures fell to multi-year lows across both the S&P 500 and Russell 3000. These results suggest that investors generally viewed the increased CEO pay levels and pay discretion as aligned with company performance and business objectives.

    The report also notes that the executive compensation landscape may be approaching a period of significant change due to amendments proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. If adopted, these amendments would significantly reduce compensation disclosure and shareholder voting requirements for a substantial portion of public companies, with far-reaching implications for compensation, governance and shareholder rights in the years ahead.

    Key findings include:

    • CEO pay continued to climb to record levels in fiscal 2025, with median S&P 500 CEO pay reaching $17.5 million. Cumulative median pay growth for CEOs of large cap companies totaled 20% in the S&P 500 compared to just 5% among the rest of the Russell 3000.
    • Equity compensation remained the primary driver of CEO pay growth, as companies increased long-term incentive award values and expanded both the prevalence and magnitude of one-time equity grants. The uptick in one-time awards may indicate that boards are seeking greater flexibility in compensation design as they respond to heightened market volatility, competitive pressure, and changing business conditions.
    • The prevalence of CEO security perquisites in the S&P 500 continued to increase sharply, and the Russell 3000 has followed suit. More than a quarter of S&P 500 companies now disclose security perquisites for their CEOs, underscoring a trend of CEO security becoming a heightened focus for boards.
    • Say-on-Pay support climbed to five-year highs across both the S&P 500 and Russell 3000, while failures reached multi-year lows. The strong support during the 2026 proxy season despite the increases in CEO pay and resurgence of one-time awards indicates a broad endorsement of boards’ compensation decisions by investors.

    Jun Frank, Head of Compensation & Governance Services at ISS-Corporate, said: “Record CEO pay, increased one-time awards, and robust shareholder support: seemingly contradicting outcomes this year show successes companies had in demonstrating pay and performance alignment. But it remains to be seen if this alignment, that has been refined over years of shareholder-issuer dialogue, will continue to hold in coming years if the quality of compensation disclosure decreases and if the mechanism to facilitate the dialogue diminishes.”

    To download the full report, please click here.

    ISS-Corporate is a leading provider of robust SaaS and expert advisory services to companies, globally. ISS-Corporate’s data-driven, research-backed Compass platform empowers businesses to understand and shape the signals they send to institutional investors, regulators, lenders, and other key stakeholders. By delivering essential data, tools, and advisory services, ISS-Corporate can help businesses around the world to be more resilient, align with market demands, and proactively manage governance, compensation, sustainability, and cyber risk initiatives. ISS Corporate Solutions, Inc. (“ISS-Corporate”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (“ISS”) and part of the ISS STOXX GmbH group of companies. This document and all of the information contained in it, including without limitation all text, data, graphs, charts (collectively, the “Information”) is the property of ISS-Corporate or its affiliates. The Information may not be reproduced or disseminated in whole or in part without prior written permission of ISS-Corporate. ISS-Corporate MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION. ISS-Corporate provides advisory services, analytical tools and publications to companies to enable them to improve shareholder value and reduce risk through the adoption of improved corporate governance practices. The ISS STOXX Governance and Sustainability research teams, which are separate from ISS-Corporate, will not give preferential treatment to, and are under no obligation to support, any proxy proposal of a corporate issuer nor provide a favorable rating, assessment, and/or any other favorable results to a corporate issuer (whether or not that corporate issuer has purchased products or services from ISS-Corporate). No statement from an employee of ISS-Corporate should be construed as a guarantee that ISS STOXX will recommend that its clients vote in favor of any particular proxy proposal or provide a favorable rating, assessment or other favorable result. For more information, please visit https://www.iss-corporate.com

    ISS STOXX GmbH, through its group companies, is a leading provider of comprehensive and data-centric research and technology solutions that help capital market participants identify investment opportunities, detect qualitative and quantitative portfolio company risks, and meet evolving regulatory requirements. With roots dating back to 1985, we today deliver world-class benchmark and custom indices across asset classes and geographies and serve as a premier source of independent corporate governance, sustainability, cyber risk, and fund intelligence research, data, and related offerings. Our products and services give clients the scale and leverage they need to grow their business more effectively and efficiently. ISS STOXX, which is majority owned by Deutsche Börse Group, is comprised of more than 3,800 professionals operating across 30 global locations in 20 countries. Its approximately 5,500 clients include many of the world’s leading institutional investors who turn to ISS STOXX for its objective and varied offerings, as well as companies focused on ESG, cyber, and governance risk mitigation as a shareholder value enhancing measure. Clients rely on ISS STOXX’s expertise to help them make informed decisions to benefit their stakeholders.