The $1.1 million average salary of Neom’s c-suite level executives is detailed in an internal list of compensation for different positions. It compares with an
average salary of $830,000 in 2021for chief executives of the 3,000 largest listed U.S. companies, according to data from MyLogIQ LLC, which tracks public filings. It is also more than twice as much as American c-suite level executives typically make, the data shows, with chief financial officers making $486,000 and chief marketing officers $416,000, on average.
Total compensation for American c-suite level executives can also reach millions of dollars after bonuses and other incentives. The $1.1 million average figure at Neom is the basic pay and people also receive a bonus, said people familiar with the project.
Neom is the most ambitious project in Saudi Arabia and one of dozens of real-estate developments and new companies.
Neom’s senior leadership team is made up of roughly 20 Saudis and foreigners, with expertise across financial services, energy and marketing and media, according to a Neom marketing presentation seen by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the project’s internal setup.
These include Peter Terium, the former chief executive of German energy company
RWE AG and now head of Neom’s energy, water and food sectors; Vishal Wanchoo, former president & chief executive of South Asia at
General Electric Co., now running the manufacturing sector at Neom; and Tim Shorrocks, chief marketing officer, previously director at Amazon Web Services. Former
Cisco Systems Inc. executive Joseph Bradley heads up technology and digital at Neom.
One of Saudi Arabia’s biggest attractions for expat workers, recruiters say, is the prospect of taking home your entire paycheck: there are zero income taxes in the kingdom. Many employees are drawn to the idea of creating entirely new companies and industries in a once-cloistered country now opening up socially and economically.
“Needless to say that building a 100% renewable energy system from scratch and the largest green hydrogen plant in the world is more of a motivator than the actual salary paid,” Mr. Terium told the Journal.
