Meet Shankh Mitra, Indian-origin CEO ranked second-highest paid in the world after Elon Musk

From studying engineering in Kolkata to leading a major American real estate company, Shankh Mitra has emerged as one of the highest-paid corporate leaders in the world.The Indian-origin chief executive of Welltower has been ranked the world’s second-highest paid CEO, according to The Wall Street Journal’s latest report, Top-Paid CEOs Smash the $200 Million Payday.Mitra’s total compensation package for 2025 was valued at $821 million, placing him behind only Tesla boss Elon Musk, whose pay package stood at $158 billion.The ranking shows a sharp rebound in executive compensation after a slowdown in recent years. WSJ reported that more CEOs earned at least $100 million in 2025 than in any year since 2021, with nearly a dozen crossing the $200 million mark.Mitra’s journey to the top began in India. He graduated from Jadavpur University with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Instrumentation and Electronics Engineering before moving to US to pursue an MBA in Applied Value Investing from Columbia Business School.He started his professional career at PwC, where he worked for five years. He later moved into investment management, joining Fidelity Investments as an analyst in 2009. He held roles at Citadel and Millennium Management, specialising in real estate securities and portfolio management.In 2016, Mitra joined Welltower, an S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on senior housing and healthcare properties. He became chief investment officer in 2018 and was appointed chief executive two years later. At the time of his appointment, lead independent director Jeffrey H Donahue praised his leadership, saying: “Over the past five years, Shankh’s investing and operational acumen… have put the company in a position of strength.”Responding to his promotion, Mitra said: “I am humbled and honoured to serve as CEO of Welltower and to lead this remarkable team as we embark on the next chapter of our journey. I am grateful to Tom for his mentorship and partnership, and I deeply appreciate the confidence and trust the Board and my colleagues have placed in me.”According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly all of Mitra’s compensation came in the form of stock awards. About 99 per cent of his pay package was tied to stock grants, including a $789 million award issued in October. By the end of the year, the shares linked to that award were valued at more than $1 billion.The payout is linked to long-term performance. Mitra is expected to receive roughly half the shares in 2031 if he remains with the company. The remaining shares will depend on Welltower increasing its market value by 45 per cent and outperforming several stock market indices over a five-year period. The report also noted that three other Welltower executives received compensation packages worth more than $100 million each, making the company only the second in a decade to have four executives receive nine-figure pay packages in a single year.Among the other highest-paid CEOs were George Kurtz ($248 million), Hock Tan ($205 million), David Zaslav ($165 million) and Stephen Schwarzman ($126 million).Another Indian-origin executive featured in the top 10 was Nikesh Arora, who ranked eighth with a compensation package worth $100 million.