Lilly rewards CEO David Ricks with $36.7M pay package for 2025, fueled by GLP-1 success

Right up front in its proxy filing with the Securites and Exchange Commission, Eli Lilly took care of justifying its $36.7 million compensation for CEO David Ricks in 2025.

Since Ricks took over in 2017, Lilly has “experienced revenue growth of approximately 207%” and a “five-year total shareholder return of 571%,” the company wrote, touting his achievement. 

The Indianapolis drugmaker also could have added its market cap surge—from $82 billion when Ricks took over to more than $1 trillion last year, when Lilly became the first company in the biopharma industry to achieve the milestone.

As for 2025 specifically, Lilly’s revenue growth of 45% was triple that of any other top 25 biopharma company, thanks almost entirely to sales of its GLP-1 products Mounjaro and Zepbound. 

In 2025, the tirzepatide duo combined raked in $36.5 billion sales, which were up from $16.5 billion in 2024. That $20 billion year-over-year difference accounted for nearly all of Lilly’s overall revenue increase from $45 billion in 2024 to $65.2 billion in 2025.  

Ricks’ compensation for 2025 was up from $29.2 million in 2024 and $26.6 million in 2023. His pay in 2017, after taking over as CEO on Jan. 1 of that year, came to $15.8 million.

Ricks’ 2025 package broke down as follows: $23.3 million in stock awards, up from $19.8 million in 2024; a bonus of $6.8 million, up from $5.7 million in 2024; and $1.7 million in his annual base salary, matching his 2024 figure. Additionally, the change in his pension value increased from $1.7 million last year to $4.5 million in 2025.

Lilly said in its proxy that, while it held its annual cash bonus targets at 100% for its other C-suite executives, it bumped up Ricks’ annual target from 150% to 175% last year to “maintain market competitiveness,” the company wrote. 

Lilly’s next highest-paid executive was chief scientific officer Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., who scored a $17.8 million package, which was up from $12.6 million in 2024. 

Jake Van Naarden, who heads up business development and Lilly’s oncology unit, collected $7.6 million, while legal chief Anat Harim made $9.8 million. In his first full year as the chief financial officer, Lucas Montarce collected $8.5 million.

Ricks’ package will likely make him the highest-paid CEO in Big Pharma in 2025. Last year, he was No. 2 on Fierce’s list of highest paid CEOs, ranking behind BioNTech’s Ugur Sahin, M.D., who scored $287 million for cashing in shares in the company that was awarded during the pandemic.

Lilly also revealed that if Ricks was suddenly terminated, he would receive a severance package of $93.9 million.