Who Is Shankh Mitra? Meet One Of World's Highest-Paid CEOs With $821 Million Pay Package

India-origin Shankh Mitra has shattered the top executive compensation record with a pay package of $821 million, roughly Rs 7,061 crore, ranking him the second-highest executive to receive the highest executive compensation after Elon Musk.

Mitra is the Chief Executive Officer of US-based Welltower, a real-estate investment trust focused on senior housing and healthcare.

Mitra has led the company since October 2020 and is widely credited with driving its growth through data-driven investing and strategic acquisitions.

His pay rose 40 percent to reach $821 million.

Elon Musk still tops as highest pay executive with a total compensation package of $158.4 billion from Tesla.

99% of Compensation In Stock Grants With Clauses

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, 99% of Mitra’s pay consisted

of stock grants, including $789 million awarded in October. The WSJ report attributed the securities filings that his shares underlying the award rose at just over $1 billion.

The report further stated that Mitra will receive about half the shares in 2031 as long as he stays, and the other half depends on Welltower’s market value rising 45 per cent and the company’s shares beating multiple stock indexes by a wide enough margin over five years.

Mitra’s Education & Career

Born and educated in India, Mitra earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Instrumentation and Electronics Engineering from Jadavpur University. He later moved to the United States and completed an MBA in Applied Value Investing from Columbia Business School.

Before joining Welltower, Mitra worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers for more than five years before moving into investment management. He subsequently held roles at Fidelity Investments, Citadel Investment Group and Millennium Partners, focusing on real estate securities and portfolio management.

Mitra joined Welltower in 2016 as Senior Vice President of Finance and Investments. Over the following years, he held several leadership positions, including Head of Investments, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer. In October 2020, he was appointed CEO, becoming one of the few Indian-origin executives to lead a major US-listed REIT.