Snap co-founder Evan Spiegel named highest-paid CEO of 2017

Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel was the highest-earning U.S. CEO of a public company in 2017 even as his company, Snap, struggled to gain its footing after a much-anticipated IPO.

Spiegel, 27, earned $504.5 million when Snap went public last May, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index. The majority of Spiegel’s earnings came from his ownership stake in Snap after the company’s IPO, though he also brought in $1.2 million in salary from the company.

While Spiegel has been well-compensated for the company he helped to establish, Snap shares have tumbled more than 50% from their closing price of $24.48 the day the company went public. The company is contending with slowing user growth, a widely panned redesign of its core Snapchat app and several instances in which public criticism from celebrities, such as Kylie Jenner and Rihanna, caused share prices to plunge. Snap operated at a loss of $720 million in 2017 and has yet to turn a profit.

Spiegel earned twice as much as his nearest competitors. Scott Nuttall and Joseph Bae, co-presidents of private equity firm KKR, each earned roughly $214 million last year.

Elon Musk, the CEO of electric car-maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, ranked fourth with $150 million in earnings. Tesla shareholders recently approved a pay package that would award Musk more than $2 billion in stock grants over the next 10 years if the company hits certain financial benchmarks.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai rounded out the top five with $144.3 million in earnings.

Bloomberg’s full list can be viewed here.