One of the lowest paid CEOs in pharma—and one of the only woman leading a top-tier giant—is set to receive up to $27.2 million in 2025.
One of the lowest paid CEOs of a major pharmaceutical company—and one of the only women—is due for a raise. GSK is preparing to bump Emma Walmsley’s salary to be better aligned with her male peers this year.
After a readjustment of GSK’s pharma peer group, the company determined that Walmsley’s salary was more in line with the number two position—CFO—at those peer companies, according to the U.K. drugmaker’s 2024 annual report, which was released Thursday. The discrepancy was leading to a retention risk for Walmsley, who took home £10.6 million ($13.3 million) in 2024 after bonuses and other incentives.
“The CEO’s current package, which is currently in the lower quartile of the new size-adjusted global biopharma peer group, is insufficient either to reward her performance, or to provide the appropriate capacity for succession,” wrote GSK Renumeration Chair Wendy Becker in the report, calling Walmsley a “high performer.”
GSK will now move the CEO towards the median pay of the peer group analyzed, which was £13.3 million ($16.8 million). In 2024, Walmsley’s total compensation was greater than her basic comp of £6.6 million ($8.4 million). The new package bumps that basic comp to £8.8 million ($11.1 million) and her total take-home pay could reach £21.6 million ($27.2 million) when on-target bonus and long-term incentive payouts for performance are factored in.
To reach that number, GSK’s share price must increase by 50% during the year. So far, the company’s shares are trading up about 11% since Jan. 1.
GSK’s new peer group includes Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Moderna and others. Fellow U.K.-based pharma AstraZeneca paid CEO Pascal Soriot £14.73 million ($18.7 million) in 2024, including long-term incentives, bonuses and other variables.
“Our revised proposals will initially result in our CEO being remunerated between lower and median quartile of our new size-adjusted global biopharma peer group,” Becker wrote. “We will have the flexibility to move towards median remuneration by the end of the 2025 policy period in line with shareholder experience.”
The new compensation package was developed with feedback from shareholders. Becker acknowledges that Walmsley still will be in the lower part of the median and that, if she were running a company that did not stray outside the U.K., “the 2025 policy proposal could be viewed differently.” However, due to GSK’s global operations the adjustments are necessary.
“That said, we are of the view that these changes are essential to move towards competitive performance-related pay opportunity in the context of GSK’s global operations,” Becker said.
Walmsley is one of the most prominent women leaders in the industry as the CEO of a top 20 pharma company by market cap. Her only other peer in this list of 20 companies is Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Reshma Kewalramani. Vertex has not yet published its 2024 proxy, which will reveal her pay for the year, but Kewalramani took home $20.6 million (£16.3 million) in 2023.
As CEO of the pharma with the highest market cap in the industry, Eli Lilly’s David Ricks took home $26.6 million (£21 million) in 2023.
