Latest news with #Axon
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The maker of Taser is the highest paid CEO, taking home $165 million—his new pay package and soaring stock made him a billionaire last year
Axon CEO Rick Smith topped the highest-paid CEOs list, reportedly raking in $165 million through stock incentives at his company, selling Tasers, security cameras, drones, and VR training. Smith became a billionaire last year due to his compensation package, boasting a net worth of $2.5 billion. But the tragic backstory behind his $17 billion company, which has driven its business ethos, may be partly false. When imagining the highest paid CEOs, one might guess Jensen Huang leading Nvidia's breakout success, or Elon Musk helming his multiple tech successes. But the top executive taking home the bacon is the boss of Tasers. Rick Smith, the co-founder and chief executive of Axon Enterprise, was the highest-paid CEO in 2024, a new report has revealed. According to the WSJ, the Axon CEO got a $165 million pay package last year—topping that of Larry Culp's $89 million, Stephen Schwartzman's $84 million, and Tim Cook's $75 million. Smith's total pay is a 999% increase from his compensation in 2023, which has shot up dramatically since Axon's compensation revamp last year. The Axon leader has run the company since 1993, and became a billionaire last year after the company changed its CEO wage strategy. Smith said he was inspired to launch the company—which manufactures Tasers, and has expanded to security cameras, drones, and VR training largely for government agencies—after two of his high school friends were gunned down. He saw Taser devices as a less lethal way to help end gun violence. But family members of the victims have rejected his claims. While Smith tops this year's list of highest-paid CEOs, he made headlines last year for rising to billionaire status with a highly lucrative pay strategy. Last year, Axon modeled its chief executive's total compensation after Musk's package at Tesla. Nearly all of his money lies in stock awards—which have been soaring over the past few years. Axon's revenue had grown more than 30% for three years straight by 2024, reeling in a record-breaking annual net income of $377 million. The business's shares also more than doubled in 2023, skyrocketing by over 50%. Combined with the rest of his pay package, he finally made the Bloomberg Billionaires index in 2024, boasting a net worth of $2.5 billion. This type of compensation is high-risk, but also high-reward—if Axon doesn't meet its stock price, operations targets, and minimum service requirements for the years from 2024 to 2030, Smith doesn't receive his full pay package. An Axon spokesperson told Fortune that the $165 million pay package 'does not represent realized pay, but rather the potential value of the award if all performance milestones are fully achieved over the life of the program.' The WSJ reported that two of Axon's seven performance targets had been met by March, according to the company's filings. The Journal's analysis used data from MyLogIQ, a provider of public-company data, and included CEOs on the job for at least a year at more than 400 S&P 500 companies reporting pay through mid-May for fiscal years ending after June 30, 2024 However, one thing is clear: Smith's net worth has been ballooning as the company has grown. In 2019, he had a reported pay of $246 million catapulted by growing stocks. And over the past year, Axon's stock price rose 160%, pushing its market cap to $50 billion, and making the shares underlying Smith's rewards worth around $500 million. The main ethos of the $17 billion company is to save lives—Smith espouses Taser devices as a less lethal alternative to guns. He has repeatedly said he got the inspiration to found the company after two of his high school friends on his football team were shot and killed. But the validity of his tragic backstory has been called into question. Smith has long pushed this narrative, telling the story to crowds of law-enforcement officers; citing it in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2020; and running it in company campaigns—including one celebrating Axon's 30th anniversary. But an investigation from Reuters has found many of Smith's claims appear to be false. It reported that Smith was not close friends with the deceased, and cited incorrect details about the incident. Axon spokesperson Alex Engel told Reuters that Smith got to know the slain young men through 'team-related social events.' One of the victim's fathers has accused Axon of running 'a whole advertising campaign based on the murder of [his] son.' The victim's sister also said Smith was 'making money off of being a great liar.' Whether or not the CEO was close friends with the shooting victims, a spokesperson from the company told Fortune it stands by his account that the tragic event inspired 'him to dedicate his life to reducing violence through technology.' 'We're proud of the mission-driven culture at Axon and remain focused on the work ahead,' a spokesperson said while taking aim at Reuters' reporting, which they described as a'five-year crusade to falsely defame our company.' This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New to Investing? This 1 Aerospace Stock Could Be the Perfect Starting Point
Kickstarting your investment journey can be both exciting and scary at the same time, and if you're new to investing, you may not know where to even begin. However, one thing is for certain -- stocks set to beat the market over the next 12 months serve as the perfect foundation for any kind of investor. Let's now take a look at one standout stock that could be a perfect fit for your portfolio. Headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ, Axon. develops and manufactures weapons for selling to U.S. state and local governments, the U.S. federal government, international government customers and commercial enterprises. Focused on global public safety, Axon's suite of products includes conducted energy devices, body-worn cameras, in-car cameras, cloud-hosted digital evidence management solutions, productivity software and real-time operations capabilities. The company generates the majority of its revenues through direct sales, including its online store. Axon faces strong competition in both its hardware and software markets from companies like Motorola Solutions, Panasonic, IBM and others. On a geographical basis, the company has operations in the United States (85% of 2024 net sales) and other international markets (15%). AXON was added to the Zacks Focus List on June 3, 2020 at $97.85 per share. Since then, shares have increased 675.24% to $758.57. Two analysts revised their earnings estimate higher in the last 60 days for fiscal 2025, while the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.06 to $6.15. AXON also boasts an average earnings surprise of 19.8%. Earnings for Axon Enterprise are forecasted to see growth of 3.5% for the current fiscal year as well. Since stock prices respond to earnings estimate revisions, it can be very profitable to buy stocks with an increased earnings outlook. By buying a Focus List stock like AXON, then, you're likely getting into a company whose future earnings estimates will be raised, potentially leading to price momentum. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Axon Enterprise, Inc (AXON) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Post
a day ago
- Business
- New York Post
This CEO was paid $165M last year — and it wasn't Cook, Zuckerberg or Musk
The CEO of the company that makes stun guns raked in $165 million last year — dwarfing the payouts handed out to the better-known bosses of Apple, Meta, Nvidia and all other executives in the S&P 500. Rick Smith — co-founder Axon Enterprises, whose Tasers and body cameras are used by police forces across the country — was the only executive to receive a pay package that eclipsed $100 million, according to The Wall Street Journal's annual analysis. General Electric's Larry Culp trailed behind at $89 million, followed by Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman ($84 million) and Apple's Tim Cook ($75 million). 4 Axon Enterprises CEO Rick Smith poses with the company's Taser stun gun mounted to a rifle. Getty Images Smith's windfall from the publicly traded company was granted under a new program open to all Axon employees that allows them to convert some or all of their pay over seven years into restricted shares, he told the Journal. 'One of the things I love about the design is I can make zero — I feel better about making a lot if I can also make zero,' Smith said. 'For me it creates that startup kind of vibe.' His 2024 payout was a steep jump from the $40,000 he earned the year before, according to the Journal. But shares in Axon surged more than 170% over the past 12 months, trading at $758 after Monday's closing bell. Half of the executives in the analysis made $17.1 million or more last year – up from $15.8 million the year before, according to the MyLogIQ data. Netflix's co-CEOs Theodore Sarandos and Greg Peters took the No. 8 and 10 spots at $62 million and $60 million, respectively. Other notables included Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff ($55 million), Nvidia boss Jensen Huang ($50 million), Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi ($39 million), JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon ($38 million) and Meta leader Mark Zuckerberg ($27 million). Tesla's Elon Musk – the richest person in the world – was last on the list at $0, as his most recent pay package remains ensnared in court battles. 4 Apple CEO Tim Cook participates in an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting with President Trump. REUTERS 4 Axon CEO Smith addresses Axon employees and lawmakers during a rally at the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix on March 4, 2025. Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The Journal report uses data from MyLogIQ and includes CEOs on the job for at least a year across more than 400 of the S&P 500 companies. Most of Smith's high-dollar compensation package came from a stock award, not annual salary, as is common for S&P 500 CEOs. Smith, who has led the company since 1993, received $246 million in compensation in 2019. He has an estimated net worth of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes. 4 Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. REUTERS Several executives outside the S&P 500 also breached the $100 million line, including Peter Gassner of cloud-computing company Veeva Systems at $172 million and Shopify's Tobias Lutke at $150 million. But last year marked the smallest number of CEOs making nine figures since 2016, according to the Journal.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
How Much Should the World's Richest Man Get Paid?
Elon Musk was the lowest-paid chief executive of an S&P 500 company last year. Tesla paid him $0. It has been that way for several years amid a legal battle over a monster stock award in 2018. A court has twice thrown out Musk's pay package—calling the process of creating it flawed despite two votes of support from shareholders. Now Tesla's business is struggling, Musk is fresh off his politics">detour through U.S. politics, and the Tesla board is exploring a new compensation package for its longtime leader. It must answer a thorny question: How do you pay the world's richest man? Pay for founder-CEOs varies widely: Taser maker Axon gave Rick Smith a $165 million stock award last year, making him the highest paid CEO in The Wall Street Journal's annual ranking. Meta paid Mark Zuckerberg, its billionaire co-founder, $27 million last year, mostly for personal-security services. Michael Dell got $3.1 million, mostly cash, while Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett famously collects a modest salary and security benefits ($405,111) and gets no stock grants. Even for other individuals in lofty positions, pay can vary wildly: President Trump makes $400,000 a year (plus a $50,000 tax-free expense allowance). The president of Harvard gets more than $1 million. Baseball's Juan Soto could make as much as $800 million over 15 years under his late-2024 contract with the New York Mets. Tesla didn't respond to requests for comment. Here are three approaches to paying Musk: Tesla's board should make it clear to Musk that he has to show up and do the job—and be serious about planning for an eventual replacement, said Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, a pay-consulting firm. That could mean he has less time to spend on SpaceX, government work and his other ventures. 'Why should Tesla have to pay for that? It's making some requirements about him being involved, having some succession—and starting to run it like a real company,' Johnson said. 'If you stay and create value, you'll make an awful lot of money. But if you don't want to be involved or you don't create value, you won't.' That done, the board should think big—Musk is clearly motivated by the potential to reap billions of dollars in Tesla shares, Johnson added. 'There's no point in putting out millions when for him that would be irrelevant,' Johnson said. 'It would be a lot of billions.' Tesla should also keep the structure of Musk's pay simpler, Johnson said. His 2018 option grant was too intricate, with a dozen tranches and even more discrete market and operating targets. This time, he recommends eliminating the complexity and paying for stock-price performance that beats the market, or even matches it, given that Tesla may no longer be the red-hot growth engine it once was. 'The value today is enormous, and I think that has to be recognized—so maintaining or growing it relative to the market should be worth an awful lot of money,' Johnson said. 'It's about value creation. It's not about how many cars you're going to sell.' Others argue it isn't the board's job to satisfy Musk's demands for a bigger ownership stake in the automaker. The CEO has openly discussed devoting his attention elsewhere if he can't own a quarter of Tesla—he controls about 20% now. Musk says that would give him a freer hand. 'You're paying the person to do an executive job, and you have to separate that from what kind of equity stake they have,' said Robin Ferracone, founder and CEO of pay-consultancy Farient Advisors. 'If he wants a bigger stake in the company, go buy it.' The board could establish a co-investment arrangement, under which Tesla matches some level of shares Musk acquires—if he stays for several years, Ferracone said. 'Investors like that better than just giving away restricted stock, for example.' Ferracone wasn't a fan of the size of Musk's 2018 option grant, but said its design had merit, rewarding him for incremental stock-price appreciation if it was accompanied by financial gains. Most in the pay industry argue Tesla's board should follow the same process boards should to set pay for any other CEO: Identify a constellation of broadly similar executives—including founders of big tech companies and CEOs at automakers and artificial-intelligence companies, for example—and use those to establish a dollar amount that makes sense. 'The decision-making process for a compensation committee, in our opinion, should not be different for founder pay and non-founder pay,' said Scott Oberstaedt, senior director for executive compensation at Willis Towers Watson, speaking generally. The top-paid CEO of 2024—Axon's Smith—said his own $165 million pay package last year was structured under a plan open to the company's roughly 4,000 employees. He describes it as an outgrowth of his prior pay package, which in turn was inspired by Musk's 2018 grant. The 2024 package is tied to a series of targets combining share price and financial measures, with restrictions preventing shares from vesting too quickly. Axon employees can forgo a chunk of income over seven years, using it to bet on the company's performance. Those making less than $90,000 a year receive grants outright. 'I'm on the same mathematical plan as everyone else,' Smith said. 'I would love to see other companies copy that.' If Axon matches typical S&P 500 growth, the CEO and other employees get shares initially valued at about what they set aside, Smith said. Stronger performance could triple their shares. Lagging performance means less—and potentially nothing. So far, Smith calls it a success, in part because it gives Axon a way to compete with startups offering shares and the potential for big stock gains. 'Most who could, took a large chunk of pay and deferred,' Smith said. 'We are seeing the benefits of everyone being aligned to the same metrics.' Write to Theo Francis at Get 360° coverage—from daily headlines to 100 year archives.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Generative AI Sales May Soar 600% by 2028: 2 Brilliant AI Stocks to Buy Now (Hint: Not Palantir)
Morgan Stanley estimates generative artificial intelligence (AI) revenue across software and internet companies will increase more than 600% between 2025 and 2028. AppLovin specializes in video game and e-commerce advertising, and the company has differentiated itself with a superior AI-powered targeting engine. CoreWeave is a leading provider of cloud AI infrastructure services, and the company just reported 420% sales growth in the first quarter. 10 stocks we like better than AppLovin › Following the introduction of ChatGPT, billionaire Bill Gates wrote, "Artificial intelligence (AI) is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the internet." That implies substantial wealth creation in the coming years. Morgan Stanley estimates generative AI revenue across software and internet companies will increase more than 600% to approach $1.1 trillion by 2028. Palantir Technologies probably comes to mind for many readers, given how well the stock has performed. But AppLovin (NASDAQ: APP) and CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) are also well positioned to benefit. AppLovin designs adtech software that lets developers market and monetize their applications across mobile and connected TV campaigns. Traditionally, most advertising on its platform has focused on video games, but the company is expanding on its primary market with a new e-commerce advertising product. AppLovin has differentiated itself with artificial intelligence (AI). Morgan Stanley says the company has a "best-in-class" recommendation engine called Axon that targets advertising campaigns with sophisticated machine learning models. Additionally, its in-house creative agency, SparkLabs, use generative AI to create personalized ad content for clients. AppLovin reported fantastic first-quarter financial results. Total revenue increased 40% to $1.4 billion, as strong sales growth in the advertising segment offset a decline in the mobile games segment. Meanwhile, generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings climbed 149% to $1.67 per diluted share. And management guided for 69% advertising sales growth in the second quarter. Importantly, AppLovin recently sold its mobile games portfolio for $800 million. That decision benefits the company in two ways. First, sales in that segment have been declining, so the divestiture eliminates the weakest part of the business. Second, it allows AppLovin to focus on its core adtech software business, including its nascent e-commerce product. Wall Street estimates AppLovin's earnings will increase at 43% annually through 2026. That makes the current valuation of 64 times earnings look fair, especially when the company beat the consensus estimate by an average of 33% in the last six quarters. Risk-tolerant investors should feel comfortable buying a small position today. CoreWeave provides cloud infrastructure and software services. The company runs the leading GPU cloud, meaning data center infrastructure that's purpose-built to support artificial intelligence (AI) applications and other complex workloads that need to be accelerated with graphics processing units (GPUs). The company uses Nvidia GPUs exclusively. CoreWeave has differentiated itself in a few important ways. First, it has regularly achieved strong results at the MLPerf benchmarks, objective tests that evaluate the performance of AI systems across training and inference workloads. Second, the company is often among the first cloud providers to deploy new Nvidia technology due to its close relationship with the chipmaker. "CoreWeave is built to move faster -- and time and time again, we've proven it by being first to operationalize the most advanced systems at scale," CEO Michael Intrator said earlier this year after the company launched Nvidia GB200 NVL72 systems ahead of its peers. That edge, coupled with expertise in managing large GPU clusters, explains why CoreWeave is growing like wildfire. First-quarter revenue soared 420% to $981 million, and adjusted operating income (which excludes stock-based compensation and interest payments) rose 550% to $162 million. However, CoreWeave has $7.8 billion in long-term debt and lease obligations. Interest on that debt consumed about one-quarter of revenue, which led the company to report a non-GAAP loss of $150 million. CoreWeave is not yet profitable, so it's difficult to value the stock. Having said that, the current price-to-sales ratio is 21. That is neither cheap nor outrageously expensive for a company that just reported triple-digit sales growth, especially when that sales growth came with a 73% gross margin. Patient investors comfortable with volatility should buy a small position. Before you buy stock in AppLovin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and AppLovin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,761!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $826,263!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 978% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 170% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Trevor Jennewine has positions in Nvidia and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AppLovin, Nvidia, and Palantir Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Generative AI Sales May Soar 600% by 2028: 2 Brilliant AI Stocks to Buy Now (Hint: Not Palantir) was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
