Devin Nunes earned $47 million in total compensation as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group last year, although he won’t be able to get his hands on all of it until March 2027, according to a filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
President Donald Trump talks with Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes at the Republican National Convention ... [+]
In addition to his $1 million base salary, the former Republican congressman received a $600,000 bonus, $44.1 million in stock awards and $1.2 million in additional stock compensation for running the parent company of President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Nunes received 25% of that $44.1 million stock award in December 2024.
The remaining stock will vest quarterly in nine payments, contingent on Nunes remaining the company’s CEO.
Nunes’ 2024 compensation marks a 6,200% increase from the $750,000 he earned in 2023, before the company went public.
A spokesperson for Trump Media did respond to an inquiry.
Before joining Trump Media, Nunes was a ten-term congressman from a rural California district, earning $174,000 annually. Trump tapped him to be CEO and a director of the company in December 2021, despite his business experience appearing to be limited to his family’s dairy farm. Trump Media touted Nunes to investors as a leader with “familiarity with public scrutiny and media savvy.” Before Friday’s filing revealed his stock compensation, Forbes had estimated his total earnings from Trump Media at $6.3 million through September 2024.
$401 million: Trump Media’s net loss in 2024, on $3.6 million in sales, according to an SEC filing made earlier this month.
“Typically there’s some sort of correlation between how well a company is doing and the CEO’s pay, said Michelle Leder, the editor footnoted.com and an expert on SEC filings. “When a company loses over $400 million and gives its CEO a $44 million grant, you have to wonder what they’re being rewarded for.”
Nunes left Congress three years ago, though his campaign is still sitting on $13.4 million in cash, records with the Federal Election Commission show.
Trump Media’s chief technology officer Vladimir Novachki’s compensation totaled $20 million, while chief financial officer Phillip Juhan made $14.2 million, according to Friday’s filing. Board members–including Donald Trump Jr. and Linda McMahon–received more than $800,000 each for their work, mostly in stock, though Kash Patel declined compensation.
In November 2023, Trump Media sued 20 media outlets, including Forbes, for reporting that included calculations of its financial results while still a private company. The defendants have moved to dismiss the claims.
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