how much does the top earners pay
Richer Than Tech and Banking. For all the populist outrage that banks have faced over compensation, their executives make just a fraction of what private equity chiefs do. Median pay among the top-ranking private equity executives in the joint study was $138 million in 2015; for bankers, that number was $23 million. And not all of the bank compensation is guaranteed. Private equity firms note that, unlike banks, many of the top executives actually founded their firms.