CEO Total Pay
$28.6M
FY2021 Summary Compensation
2026 data Public-data reference. official source
COWEN INC.
Open-data reference.
Security & Commodity Brokers · DE · FY2021
CEO-to-Worker Pay Ratio
133:1
Moderate (Scale: 0–1000:1)
CEO Pay
$28.6M
Median Worker
$215,000
Compensation Pillar
CEO compensation breakdown — pay ratio 133× median worker (Dodd-Frank §953(b) disclosure)
COWEN INC., a security & commodity brokers company, reported a CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 133:1 in FY2021. CEO received total compensation of $28.6M, while the median employee earned $215,000 annually. This is above the Security & Commodity Brokers industry median of 57:1 across 35 companies. Data sourced from SEC EDGAR proxy (DEF 14A) filings.
CEO Compensation Breakdown — FY2021
Detailed breakdown not available.
| Component | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Base Salary | — |
| Bonus | — |
| Stock Awards | — |
| Option Awards | — |
| Non-Equity Incentive Plan | — |
| Pension Value Change | — |
| Other Compensation | — |
| Total Compensation | $28.6M |
Source: SEC EDGAR Form DEF 14A — CIK 1466538, FY2021 Summary Compensation Table.
Industry Comparison — Security & Commodity Brokers
This Company's Ratio
133:1
Industry Median Ratio
57:1
Industry Median CEO Pay
$9.3M
This CEO's Pay
$28.6M
Companies in Industry
35
vs. Industry Median
Above
Understanding This Pay Ratio
COWEN INC.'s CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 133:1 means that earned 133 times more than the company's median employee in FY2021.
The median employee at COWEN INC. earned $215,000 annually. At that wage, it would take a median employee approximately 133 years to earn what the CEO earned in a single year.
Pay Ratio
133:1
Near industry median
Disclosure Transparency
1.0/5
Limited pay component reporting
Pay-Versus-Performance Disclosure
Under 17 CFR §229.402(v) (the Pay-Versus-Performance rule effective for fiscal years ending after December 16, 2022), issuers must reconcile Compensation Actually Paid (CAP) to Total Shareholder Return (TSR) over a multi-year window. The chart below visualizes the relationship between COWEN INC.'s reported CAP and TSR for FY2021.
Pay vs Performance — FY2021 (Dodd-Frank §953(a) PvP disclosure)
Pay Composition
Equity-based pay (stock + options) 0.0%
Performance-linked (incentive + bonus) 0.0%
Fixed compensation (base salary) 0.0%
ISS QualityScore and Glass-Lewis voting guidelines weight performance-linked share of pay. The CII (Council of Institutional Investors) recommends ≥50% of CEO pay be tied to multi-year performance metrics.
What This 2021 Filing Tells Us About COWEN INC.
According to the 2021 DEF 14A proxy statement filed with the SEC, COWEN INC. (, CIK 1466538) reported CEO 's total compensation at $28.6M. That figure is an aggregate of base salary (N/A). The median employee at the firm — the reference point mandated by Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act — earned $215,000 over the same fiscal year, producing the headline CEO-to-worker pay ratio of 133:1 that this page tracks.
Context matters when reading this ratio. COWEN INC. operates in the Security & Commodity Brokers sector and is headquartered in DE. Across the Security & Commodity Brokers industry (SIC 62), 35 SEC-reporting companies disclosed pay ratios in FY2023, with a median of 57:1 and an average of 75:1. Median industry CEO pay was $9.3M, so COWEN INC.'s $28.6M sits above that typical figure. That comparison is the fastest way to separate "the CEO is paid like peers" from "this company is an outlier."
Finally, a note on what these SEC numbers do and do not include. Total compensation reported under Item 402 of Regulation S-K reflects grant-date fair value for equity awards, not realized pay, so a CEO may eventually cash in more — or less — depending on stock performance and vesting. The pay ratio itself is calculated against a single median employee chosen under rules that allow statistical sampling, and companies may update methodology year to year. This proxy was filed on 2022-05-27; all figures on this page come directly from that public filing and can be verified against the DEF 14A on the SEC EDGAR system.
Key Data — FY2021
- CEO
- Total Compensation
- $28.6M
- Base Salary
- N/A
- Median Employee Pay
- $215,000
- Pay Ratio
- 133:1
- Filing Date
- 2022-05-27
Company Info
- Ticker
- CIK
- 1466538
- Industry
- Security & Commodity Brokers
- SIC Code
- 6211
- State
- DE
Guides
Explore More
Data Source: This data is sourced from SEC EDGAR proxy statement (DEF 14A) filings. PlainCEOPay provides this publicly available information for informational purposes only. Not investment or financial advice. Verify with official SEC filings at sec.gov.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CEO pay ratio at COWEN INC.? ▼
COWEN INC.'s CEO-to-worker pay ratio is 133:1. CEO null earned $28.6M in FY2021, while the median employee earned $215,000.
How much does COWEN INC.'s CEO earn? ▼
null, CEO of COWEN INC. (null), earned total compensation of $28.6M in fiscal year 2021, according to SEC proxy filings.
How does COWEN INC.'s pay ratio compare to its industry? ▼
COWEN INC.'s pay ratio of 133:1 is above the Security & Commodity Brokers industry median of 57:1. The industry has 35 companies reporting pay ratios.
Where does COWEN INC.'s CEO pay data come from? ▼
All executive compensation data is sourced from SEC EDGAR DEF 14A proxy statement filings. Companies are required by the Dodd-Frank Act to disclose CEO-to-median-worker pay ratios annually. PlainCEOPay aggregates this publicly available data for easy comparison.
What is included in null's total compensation? ▼
Total compensation of $28.6M includes base salary, stock awards, option awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation, pension value changes, and other compensation as reported in the proxy filing summary compensation table.
How long would it take a median COWEN INC. employee to earn the CEO's pay? ▼
At a median salary of $215,000, it would take the typical COWEN INC. employee approximately 133 years to earn what CEO null earned in a single year ($28.6M in FY2021).
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
All federal data sources used on this page
- U.S. Census Bureau ACS — demographic + housing + income data. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — wage + employment by occupation. bls.gov/oes
- BEA Regional Economic Accounts — GDP + personal income by state/metro. bea.gov/data/regional
- U.S. Census Bureau County Business Patterns — establishment + employment by industry. census.gov/cbp
- IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) — tax-return aggregate data. irs.gov/statistics
- data.gov — U.S. federal open-data portal — discovery layer for additional federal sources. data.gov
Related
Data sourced from $official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCEOPay Editorial
