AbbVie CEO Robert Michael will be paid $32.5 million in 2025, his second year on the job, a significant 75% increase from his first year, solidifying his position as one of the highest-paid executives in the biopharmaceutical industry.
Michael is the second CEO at AbbVie to take over the top job at the Illinois drugmaker after Richard Gonzalez’s 11-year tenure as CEO ends in 2024. Michael, a longtime AbbVie executive, has picked up immediately where Gonzalez left off by refocusing the company’s flagship immunology portfolio on growth engines SkyRigi and Rinvoke following the loss of exclusivity for long-time top seller Humira in 2023.
In 2025, Skyrizi and Rinvoq will drive AbbVie’s annual sales to a record $61.1 billion, an 8.6% increase from 2024, and surpass its previous peak sales of $58 billion in 2022. That’s despite nearly $16 billion in U.S. Humira erosion since then, Michael said on the company’s February earnings call.
AbbVie then gave its leaders a unique record-breaking compensation package. Mr. Gonzalez earned a total of $25.7 million in compensation in his final year as CEO, down from $26.3 million the year before, while Mr. Michael has benefited from the company’s resurgence with a total of $32.5 million.
The CEO’s pay includes a $1.7 million salary, $16.5 million in stock and option bonuses and a $5.2 million cash bonus, the company said in its 2025 proxy statement.
Michael’s compensation also reflects $8.6 million attributable to “changes in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation income,” compared to $2 million a year ago. Part of this increase is due to salary adjustments due to his new CEO role and a temporary increase in early retirement benefits when he turns 55 in 2025.
The next biggest change in his pay structure is $13.3 million in stock compensation, up from $7.9 million in 2024. In his first year as CEO, the new chief earned a total of $18.5 million in compensation, an increase from the $14.4 million he earned in 2023 for his job as chief operating officer.
AbbVie justified his high compensation package by laying out strategic and leadership goals for 2025 that the CEO had “met or exceeded.” These benchmarks include delivering value to shareholders, building investor confidence, expanding pipeline assets, and driving the company’s “biopharmaceutical culture transformation.”
AbbVie also increased pay for its remaining executives. Chief Financial Officer Scott Lients received a $2 million increase in compensation to $12.3 million, while Chief Operating Officer Dr. Azita Saleki Gerhardt and Chief Commercial Officer Jeffrey Stewart received increased compensation of $10.7 million and $15.4 million, respectively. Meanwhile, new chief scientific officer and director of research and development, Roopal Thakkar, earned $9.9 million in his first year on the executive team.
Meanwhile, Gonzalez still had $17 million in 2025, as the former CEO remained executive chairman until Michael took over in July 2025.
While Michael’s 2024 total of $18.5 million fell just short of making Fierce’s annual ranking of the year’s top 10 highest-paid CEOs, his latest earnings firmly place him among the industry’s highest-paid executives. Eli Lilly’s David Rix will earn $36.7 million in 2025, while GSK’s Emma Walmsley will earn £15.7 million in her final year of work.
