10 CEOs Who Are Giving Up Their Salaries So That Employees Don’t Lose Their Jobs During The Pandemic

In this time of crisis, businesses are severely hit. Not everyone can work from home due to the nature of the job. In these desperate times, some CEOs and industry bigwigs are forgoing their salaries so their employees don’t have to.

1. Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Founder and CEO, Paytm)

Vijay Shekhar Sharma recently announced that he would be foregoing his salary for the next two months to help the Paytm office staff.

In his tweet, he said he was inspired by Arne Sorenson, the President & CEO of Marriott International.

This message becomes totally somethings else after 4:30 mins. I just couldn’t hold tears in my eyes. Inspired by Arne, I will not take my salary of this month & next. I commit that money to any needs of @Paytm office-help-staff in these testing times. https://t.co/6s92dXME5G
— Stay Home, Stay Safe (@vijayshekhar) March 20, 2020

2. Arne Sorenson (President & CEO, Marriott International)

In a video message, he announced that he would be giving up his salary for the rest of 2020 and the Marriot top executive team would be taking a 50% pay cut to help the company steer through the financial impact of COVID-19.

A message to Marriott International associates from President and CEO Arne Sorenson. pic.twitter.com/OwsF14TZgb
— Marriott International (@MarriottIntl) March 19, 2020

3. Bob Iger (Executive Chairman & Former CEO, Disney)

In an email sent to Disney employees, it was announced that Bob Iger will be forgoing salary and his successor (New CEO) Bob Chapek will take a 50% salary cut, while the company’s other high-level executives will take varying pay cuts.

4. Tim Boyle (CEO & President, Columbia Sportswear)

He has said that he will reduce his salary to $10,000 from his roughly $3 million compensation.

In a message to employees, he assured that the retail employees will continue to be paid during this period of time, even though their physical stores are closed due to the pandemic.

Columbia has been in business since 1938 and has weathered many storms by keeping our focus on the well-being of consumers, employees and the larger community. https://t.co/TGABBKxvO9 pic.twitter.com/R2Ydny3fK4
— columbia1938 (@Columbia1938) March 28, 2020

5. Brian Chesky (CEO, Airbnb)

Since the Coronavirus pandemic has hit the travel industry very hard, CEO of the most acclaimed hospitality start-up, Airbnb has decided to forgo his salary for the rest of 2020.

The company’s co-founders, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk have also given up their salaries for the year 2020 in order to avoid layoffs.

6. Aloke Bajpai (Co-founder & CEO, Ixigo)

Due to severe disruption in its business, Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar (Co-founder and CTO) have decided to forgo their entire salary until the business is back on track.

The top leadership is also going to take a 60% pay cut while the rest of the staff will get a reduced salary (between 20% to 50%).

7. Ed Bastian (CEO, Delta Airlines)

The aviation sector is among the worst hit due to Coronavirus pandemic.

In a memo sent to the company employees, Bastian announced that he would be giving up 100% of his salary for the next six months.

8. H. Lawrence Culp Jr. (Chairman & CEO, General Electric)

In a statement released to the employees, he said that he will give up his full salary for the remainder of 2020.

According to the statement, David Joyce, the Vice Chairman of GE and President and CEO of GE Aviation, will also forgo half of his salary starting April 1st.

9. John Zimmer and Logan Green (Co-founders, Lyft)

In an email to the employees, Zimmer and Green said that they would contribute their salaries through the end of June to support drivers during the Coronavirus crisis.

In the same email, they also announced a new service ‘LyftUp Driver Task Force’ under which drivers can help neighbours to get to grocery stores, workers to hospitals and caretakers to their jobs.

10. Alan Joyce (CEO, Qantas Airlines)

Alan Joyce, the CEO of Australia’s largest airline, has decided to give up his salary for the rest of the financial year.

He is one of highest paid CEOs of Australia and had earned about 15 million dollars in the financial year 2018. As per the company’s statement, other executives will also take a 30% pay cut.