Gilead’s median employee compensation in 2025 was $238,979. Daniel O’Day’s compensation package is 119 times larger.
Like his peers, Gilead CEO Daniel O’Day got a raise last year, with his total compensation coming out to $28.44 million, a 20% increase from the previous year.
O’Day’s base pay in 2025 was $1.795 million, according to the pharma’s proxy statement released Monday. The bulk of his take-home package came from stock and option awards, which together totaled nearly $19.74 million. The exec also received more than $6.9 million in incentives and other benefits.
Gilead’s median employee compensation last year was $238,979, meaning O’Day was paid 119 times more than the median employee, the filing noted.
O’Day assumed leadership of Gilead in March 2019, jumping ship after more than 30 years at Roche, including three at the helm of its pharma unit. Under O’Day, Gilead’s shares have risen some 117%.
2025 turned out to be a good year for Gilead. In June, the pharma won a historic approval for its twice-yearly HIV prevention pill Yeztugo, which BMO Capital Markets in a June 19 note said “marks a major win for Gilead in driving meaningful growth in its PrEP business.” Mizuho Securities was similarly effusive about the approval, saying in a note the same day that Yeztugo “has the potential to ‘redefine’ the PrEP market.”
In its first few months on the market, Yeztugo made $150 million in sales, including $96 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Gilead projects the pill to hit $800 million this year—an achievable sales target given the pharma’s direct-to-consumer marketing efforts and the coverage of all major insurance providers, executives said during the company’s 2025 earnings call last month.
Outside of HIV, Gilead also strengthened its position in cell therapies in 2025, standing strong even as many of its big pharma peers move away from the modality. In May last year, just weeks before Yeztugo’s approval, Gilead partner Arcellx released mid-stage data for the CAR T therapy anitocabtagene autoleucel (anito-cel), touting a 97% overall response rate when used in patients who had undergone at least three prior lines of treatment.
In February of this year, Gilead went on to acquire Arcellx for $7.8 billion. The companies have also filed for anito-cel’s accelerated approval, for which the FDA has a target action date of Dec. 23, 2026.
Aside from O’Day, CEOs of other top pharmas also saw hefty pay bumps last year. Earlier this month, a proxy statement for AbbVie showed that its chief, Robert Michael, received a 75% raise to bring his total compensation package to $32.5 million. He joins Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato, who last year took home $32.76 million, in the $30-million-plus club. Also in this circle is Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, who in 2025 was paid $36.7 million, according to the pharma’s proxy filing.
