The transfer came weeks before her estimate that FTX was facing a cash deficit exceeding $10 billion. The lawsuit also cites other so-called "bonuses" she gave herself between 2021 and 2022, during the time she was also allegedly committing financial misconduct and fraud. Less than a year after the $22.5 million payout, FTX was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As the complaint puts it: "No 'bonus' could possibly be justified given Ellison's extensive misconduct."

Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

The news comes as entries from Ellison's own personal diary were leaked to the press, and they seem to show a young woman in over her head as the CEO of a large cryptocurrency trading platform: "Running Alameda doesn't feel like something I'm that comparatively advantaged at or well suited to do, she wrote in one entry, adding:

"I have been feeling pretty unhappy and overwhelmed with my job…At the end of the day I can't wait to go home and turn off my phone and have a drink and get away from it all."

The New York Times reported that those entries and many others were leaked by Bankman-Fried himself, who was then hit with a gag order by the court because he was believed to have done so as an intimidation tactic against her (she is scheduled to testify against Bankman-Fried in his trial in October). He's also scheduled for another hearing in August to determine whether he will be jailed before his trial.

Ellison told a judge last year that she knew that her actions during the time of FTX's collapse were both wrong and illegal. Before her guilty plea, she was reportedly facing up to 110 years in prison. Her case, including an eventual sentence for the charges, is still underway.

Read more: Lawsuit Alleges Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison Paid Herself $22.5 Million Bonus Amid FTX Crypto Collapse

The figures are somewhat startling to read, particularly in the current era when top level headliners can command millions of dollars for engagements at rock festivals that are on one level or another emulating the format pioneered by Woodstock back in 1969. The figures, reported by various outlets over the years, show how much each artist was paid, and it's a far cry from the six and seven-figure numbers that comparable performers at the top of their games would earn at a similar event today.

Clayton Call/Redferns/Getty Images

The show's top earner, somewhat fittingly, was Jimi Hendrix, who raked in $18,000 for his performance, a bargain considering it's one of the most famous and iconic concert performances in all of history. The show's second-highest earner, to the tune of $15,000, is a little bit more of a head-scratcher given the other names on the bill: jazz-rock combo Blood, Sweat & Tears. Taking up third place is singer-songwriter Joan Baez, who earned $10,000. Here's a full listing of the acts at Woodstock '69 and what they earned to be there:

1. Jimi Hendrix – $18,000
2. Blood, Sweat and Tears – $15,000
3. Joan Baez – $10,000
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival – $10,000
5. The Band – $7,500
6. Janis Joplin – $7,500
7. Jefferson Airplane – $7,500
8. Sly and the Family Stone – $7,000
9. Canned Heat – $6,500
10. The Who – $6,250
11. Richie Havens – $6,000
12. Arlo Guthrie – $5,000
13. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young – $5,000
14. Ravi Shankar – $4,500
15. Johnny Winter – $3,750
16. Ten Years After – $3,250
17. Country Joe and the Fish – $2,500
18. The Grateful Dead – $2,500
19. The Incredible String Band – $2,250
20. Mountain – $2,000
21. Tim Hardin – $2,000
22. Joe Cocker – $1,375
23. Sweetwater – $1,250
24. John B. Sebastian – $1,000
25. Melanie – $750
26. Santana – $750
27. Sha Na Na – $700
28. Keef Hartley – $500
29. Quill – $375

Iron Butterfly, the psychedelic rock group best known for their song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida," were no-shows at the concert, but they were purportedly set to be one of its top earners, with $5,000 plus another $5,000 for the band's "light show." According to rock lore, they were stuck at nearby LaGuardia Airport when their management demanded that festival organizers arrange for them to be shuttled directly to the stage via helicopter. In a book on the Woodstock festival, production coordinator John Morris claims to have sent the following response via telegram (take a note of the first letter of each line):

"For reasons I can't go into / Until you are here / Clarifying your situation / Knowing you are having problems / You will have to find / Other transportation / Unless you plan not to come."

That telegram robbed Woodstock attendees of the spectacle of Iron Butterfly taking the stage by chopper, and departing the same way afterwards, but it also saved the Woodstock payroll a total of ten grand.

Read more: Here's How Much All The Performers At The Original Woodstock Were Paid: From Jimi Hendrix To Janis Joplin And The Grateful Dead

DiCaprio released a press statement on the pledge, here's part of it:

"We are inspired by Brazil's ambitious goals for protecting the Amazon, one of the most important places for wildlife on the planet, and are thrilled to be able to support these efforts through the Protecting Our Planet Challenge."

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Cristián Samper is managing director and leader of Nature Solutions of the Bezos Earth Fund, and he's quoted on the pledge as well:

"The Amazon is critical for the future of global biodiversity and climate, and we welcome the commitment from President Lula and the Government of Brazil to protect it.

"The Amazon is critical for the future of global biodiversity and climate, and we welcome the commitment from President Lula and the Government of Brazil to protect it."

The Amazon has faced various forms of deforestation over the years, but the Brazilian government's new commitment will protect 145 million acres of undesignated public lands while beefing up protections already in place. The $200 million is set to be dispersed over four years, and the ultimate goal is for the Amazon to reach "zero deforestation" at some point in the future, something that any lover of the planet's natural environment would be happy to see happen.

Read more: Leonardo DiCaprio And Jeff Bezos Make Combined $200 Million Pledge Towards Protecting Amazon Rainforests

Republican Senator Jim Risch is the official filer of the bill, and he had this to say about the rationale behind it:

"Given Russia's brutality and continued war crimes against the Ukrainian people, it is only right that Russian government funds in the United States be seized and repurposed to help Ukraine win the war and rebuild its country."

The $300 billion figure comes from the amount of Russian assets that have been frozen by the US and other western countries since the start of the war. Many Russian oligarchs have seen their assets frozen due to alleged ties to the Russian invasion, and this would allow that money to go directly towards the effort in Ukraine.

But as legal expert Paul B. Stephen wrote in a Capital Markets Law Journal, such a bill would face legal hurdles even if it were signed into law by President Biden:

"The customary international law of state immunity generally protects state assets from seizure…Exceptions exist, but their scope is unclear."

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The bigger threat in that area comes from Moscow turning around and retaliating by seizing assets of western countries, a can of worms that some say is better left closed.

But back in May, a bipartisan group headed by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) put out a press release urging President Biden to such a plan:

"At this critical juncture, while each dollar could help make the difference in the outcome of the war, we urge you to use your authority to transfer the billions of dollars of Russian central bank assets frozen pursuant to U.S. sanctions to meet urgent military and humanitarian needs in Ukraine. Not only is there firm legal backing and precedent for such action, but it would also be the right thing to do."

Time will tell whether the effort actually pays off, and if Ukraine finds itself with a $300 billion windfall courtesy of the government it's fighting.

Read more: US Senators Have Plan To Seize $300 Billion Worth Of Russian Assets And Transfer To Ukraine

The hack is the result of five years of concerted operations that have bilked crypto holders out of funds under false pretenses. Despite the imagery of an elite "hacker army" using pulling off high-tech heists, a lot of the money was stolen using simple scams, like posing as a job recruiter and installing a Trojan horse program disguised as a phony document on the victim's computer. In this particular case, the victim was an engineer at a blockchain gaming company called Sky Mavis, and the software gave the hackers access to the company mainframes, allowing them to steal a reported $600 million largely from players of a virtual pets game called "Axie Infinity."

ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

That was the single biggest take in the last five years of North Korean cyberheists, according to officials within the US government. The operations have netted the North Korean government a total of $3 billion so far, enough to fund about half of the country's ballistic missile program, again according to US officials.

That's one reason the Sky Mavis theft caught the attention of the White House. Anne Neuberger is the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology for the Biden administration revealed:

"The real surge in the last year has been against central crypto infrastructure around the world that hold large sums, like Sky Mavis, leading to more large-scale heists…That has driven us to intensely focus on countering this activity."

That's not an easy job, and so far the North Korean hackers have had a total of around 42 documented successes since the operations began in 2018. And even though much of what goes on within the country is a mystery to outsiders, US officials have also documented increases in missile testing across the same period.

One former FBI analyst named Nick Carlsen even goes so far as to call North Korea "a modern-day pirate state," distinct from other country's hacking operations in its focus on financial assets rather than secret information. A 2020 UN report calls the operations like those being pulled off by the hackers as "low-risk, high-reward and difficult to detect, and their increasing sophistication can frustrate attribution."

North Korea has reportedly been linked to many high-profile cybercrimes going much further back than 2018 (we all remember the 2014 Sony hack, for example), but US officials say the country has succeeded in ramping up its operations in recent years, growing much more sophisticated and effective. And the concurrent rise of cryptocurrency has been beneficial in this regard as well.

So it's up to crypto companies as well as the US government to try and create new security measures for the heists, some of which are so sophisticated that officials say their methodologies aren't seen from any other corner of the hacking world. Earlier this year, officials allege that hackers in North Korea pulled off a "cascading supply-chain attack" against two software companies Trading Technologies and 3CX. Using the systems of the latter, they were able to pilfer an untold (but reportedly small) number of individual crypto accounts from exchanges that used 3CX software.

As Sky Mavis COO Aleksander Larsen, whose company was almost destroyed by the attack on their servers, put it: "It's an arms race with these hackers."

Read more: A North Korean "Hacker Army" Stole $3 Billion In Crypto Assets

If you're a regular visitor of this site, you are probably looking forward to the day when your bank account holds millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions… or even BILLIONS of dollars.

But have you ever thought about how your life might actually change when you eventually make those millions and billions of dollars? It begs the question – What do insanely rich people experience and know that is shut off to non-millionaires? Perhaps more importantly, how does life change at the various levels of wealth? What can someone who has $50 million actually do that someone with $15 million can NOT do? What does the billionaire know that the hundred-millionaire can only dream of?

To get some insight into these questions, we can look at a Reddit forum post that asked the following question:

What do insanely wealthy people buy, that ordinary people know nothing about?

The question got hundreds of interesting responses, but a user with the handle "a1988eli" posted a answer that turned out to be particularly amazing. To start out, a1988eli says we need to separate wealth into five distinct levels/gradients:

• Level 1: $10 million – $30 million 
• Level 2: $30 million – $100 million
• Level 3: $100 million – $1 billion
• Level 4: $1 billion – $10 billion
• Level 5: $10 billion+

You're gonna drool over what he says about the life of someone at Level 4, $1-10 billion. It's mind-boggling. Oh, and before you get too excited about Level 5, he actually doesn't spend too much time on the lifestyles of these insanely lucky few because, according to a1988eli, anyone with more than $10 billion basically lives the life of a head of state. A life that is essentially unimaginable unless you are a King or the President of an extremely wealthy country. The first four levels, on the other hand, are a bit more conceptually ascertainable… even for us mere mortals.

(Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

I'm gonna cut and paste exactly what he says for each level because it's all really amazing. Again, I want to credit a1988eli for everything you are about to read:

Level 1: $10 million – $30 million

(liquid net worth, not including primary residence)

At this level, your needs are met. You can live very comfortably at a 4-star/5-star level. You can book a $2000 suite for a special occasion. You can fly first class internationally (sometimes). You have a very nice house, you can afford any healthcare you need, no emergency financial situation can destroy your life. But you are not "rich" in the way that money doesn't matter. You still have to be prudent and careful with most decisions unless you are on the upper end of this scale, where you truly are becoming insulated from personal financial stress. (Business stress exists at all levels). The banking world still doesn't classify you as 'ultra high net worth'.

Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Level 2: $30 million – $100 million

At this point, you start playing with the big boys. You can fly private (though you normally charter a flight or own a jet fractionally through Net Jets or the like), You stay at 5 star hotels, you have multiple residences, you vacation in prime time (you rent a ski-in, ski-out villa in Aspen for Christmas week or go to Monaco for the grand Prix, or Cannes for the Film Festival–for what its worth, rent on these places can run $5k-20k+ per NIGHT.), you run or have a controlling interest in a big company, you socialize with Congressmen, Senators and community leaders, and you are an extremely well respected member in any community outside the world's great cities. (In Beverly Hills, you are a minor player at $80 million. Unless you really throw your weight around and pay out the nose, you might not get a table at the city's hottest restaurant). You can buy any car you want. You have personal assistants and are starting to have 'people' that others have to talk to to get to you. You can travel ANYWHERE in any style. You can buy pretty much anything that normal people think of as 'rich people stuff'.

JEAN CHRISTOPHE MAGNENET/AFP/Getty Images

Level 3: $100 million – $1 billion

I know its a wide range, but life doesn't change much when you go from being worth $200mm-$900mm. At this point, you have a private jet, multiple residences with staff, elite cars at each residence, ownership or significant control over a business/entity that most of the public has heard of, if it's your thing, you can socialize with movie stars/politicians/rock stars/corporate elite/aristocracy. You might not get invited to every party, but you can go pretty much everywhere you want. You definitely have 'people' and staff. The world is full of 'yes men'. Your ability to buy things becomes an art. One of your vacation homes may be a 5 bedroom villa on acreage in Cabo, but that's not impressive. You own a private island? Starting to be cool, but it depends on the island. You just had dinner with Senator X and Governor Y at your home? Cool. But your billionaire friend just had dinner with the President. You have a new Ferrari? Your friend thinks their handling sucks and has a classic, only-five-exist-in-the-world-type of car. Did I mention women? Because at this level, they are all over the place. Every event, most parties. The polo club. Ultra-hot, world class, smart women. Power and money are an aphrodisiac and you have it in spades. Anything you want from women at this point you will find a willing and beautiful partner. You might not emotionally connect, but damn, she's hot. One thing that gets rare at this level? Friends and family that love you for who you are. They exist, but it is pretty damn hard to know which ones they are.

Level 4: $1 billion – $10 billion

At $1b, life changes. You can buy anything. ANYTHING. In broad terms, this is what you can buy:

ACCESS. You now can just ask your staff to contact anyone and you will get a call back. I have seen this first hand and it is mind-blowing the level of access and respect $1 billion+ gets you. In this case, I wanted to speak with a very well-known billionaire businessman (call him billionaire #1 for a project that interested billionaire #2. I mentioned that it would be good to talk to billionaire #1 and B2 told me that he didn't know him. But he called his assistant in. "Get me the xxxgolf club directory. Call B1 at home and tell him I want to talk to him." Within 60 minutes, we had a call back. I was in B1's home talking to him the next day. B2's opinion commanded that kind of respect from a peer. Mind blowing. The same is true with access to almost any Senator/Governor of a billionaires party (because in most cases, he is a significant donor). You meet on an occasional basis with heads-of-state and have real conversations with them. Which leads to,

INFLUENCE. Yes, you can buy influence. As a billionaire, you have many ways to shape public policy and the public debate, and you use them. This is not in any evil way. the ones I know are passionate about ideas and are trying to do what they feel is best (just like you would). But they just had an hour with the Governor privately, or with the Secretary of Health, or the buy ads or lobbyists. The amount of influence you have can be heady.

TIME. Yes, you can buy time. You literally never wait for anything. Travel? you fly private. Show up at the airport, sit down in the plane and the door closes and you take off in 2 minutes, and fly directly to where you are going. The plane waits for you. If you decide you want to leave at anytime, you drive (or take a helicopter to the airport and you leave. The pilots and stewardess are your employees. They do what you tell them to do. Dinner? Your driver drops you off at the front door and waits a few blocks away for however long you need. The best table is waiting for you. The celebrity chef has prepared a meal for you (because you give him so much catering business he wants you VERY happy) and he ensures service is impeccable. Golf? Your club is so exclusive there is always a tee time and no wait. Going to the Superbowl or Grammy's? You are whisked behind velvet ropes and escorted past any/all lines to the best seats in the house.

EXPERIENCES. Dream of it and you can have it. Want to play tennis with Pete Sampras (not him in particular, but that type of star)? Call his people. For a donation of $100k+ to his charity, you could probably play a match with him. Like Blink182? There is a price where they would simply come play at your private party. Love art? Your people could arrange for the curator of the Louvre to show you around and even show you masterpieces that have not been exhibited in years. Love Nascar? How about racing the top driver on a closed track? Love science? Have a dinner with Bill Nye and Neil dGT. Love politics? have Hillary Clinton come speak at a dinner for you and your friends, just pay her speaking fee. Your mind is the only limit to what is available. Because donations/fees get you anyone.

The same is true with stuff. You like pianos? How about owning one Mozart used to compose music on? This is the type of stuff you can do.

IMPACT. Your money can literally change the world and change lives. It is almost too much of a burden to think about. Clean water for a whole village forever? chump change. A dying child need a transplant? Hell…you could just build and fund a hospital and do it for a region.

RESPECT. The respect you get at this level is just over-the-top. You are THE MAN in almost every circle. Governors look up to you. Fortune 500 CEOs look up to you. Presidents and Kings look at you as a peer.

PERSPECTIVE. The wealthiest person I have spent time with makes about $400mm/year. I couldn't get my mind around that until I did this: OK–let's compare it with someone who makes $40,000/year. It is 10,000x more. Now let's look at prices the way he might. A new Lambo–$235,000 becomes $23.50. First class ticket internationally? $10,000 becomes $1. A full time executive level helper? $8,000/month becomes $0.80/month. A $10mm piece of art you love? $1000. Expensive, so you have to plan a bit. A suite at the best hotel in NYC $10,000/night is $1/night. A $50million home in the Hamptons? $5,000. There is literally nothing you can't buy except,

LOVE. Sorry to sound so trite, but it is nearly impossible to have a normal emotional relationship at this level. It is hard to sacrifice for another person when you are never asked to sacrifice ANYTHING. Money can solve all problems for someone, so you offer it, because there is so much else to do. Your time is SOOOO valuable that you ration it. And that makes you lose connections with people.

Level 5: $10 billion+

With a net worth of $10 billion and up, your life is basically no different than that of an elite head of state. You live a life that is essentially unimaginable unless you are a King or the President of an extremely wealthy country. Think the King of Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Putin or the King of Thailand. Money, time, wants, needs… nothing matters and nothing is in your way or is unattainable.

Instead of owning multiple private jets, you own an airline.

Instead of owning a fleet of cars, you own the entire luxury car company.

You own a military.

Wars have been started over your emotions.

You have the ability to put people you dislike in prison forever… or worse.

————–

So there you have it! Now when you go out and make your fortune, you'll know exactly what to expect at each level of success.

Which level of success do you think sounds most appealing? You might assume everyone would say Level 5, but perhaps not. Having that much money might not have such an awesome impact on your children, and your children's children. Let us know in the comments which level you're aiming for!

Oh, and as always, when you do make tons and tons of money, please don't forget to invite your friends here at CNW to hang out at pool parties and go on private island vacations 🙂

Read more: How Does Your Life Change As You Go From Millionaire, To Hundred Millionaire, To Billionaire And Beyond???

There are a number of theories as to why Fox fired Tucker. After all, he was the network's brightest star. Tucker's former show was often the highest-rated show on cable, regularly attracting 3 million nightly viewers. By comparison, CNN's Anderson Cooper attracts around 600,000 nightly viewers.

Why was Tucker fired?

There are two leading theories that most people think combined to force Lachlan Murdoch (Rupert Murdoch's son who runs Fox) to fire with Tucker:

#1) The Dominion defamation case brought to light some texts and emails sent by Tucker in which he disparages his (now former) Fox News bosses.

#2) Tucker and Fox News are facing a separate sexual harassment case in which a former producer alleges his show was a toxic and misogynistic work environment.

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

At the time of his firing, Tucker was earning an salary of $10 million per year and he was under contract for another 2-3 years.

By firing Tucker, Fox had two options:

#1) It could continue to pay Tucker $10 million per year for the next 2.5 years to sit on the sidelines and never appear on a rival network or media platform. That would have been a roughly $25 million bill to keep Tucker locked up.

#2) Fox could have claimed Tucker was fired "for cause" which would have allowed them to void the contract and save $25 million BUT it would have made him free to appear on rival networks and media platforms immediately.

There was a third option.

#3) Tucker quits. He gives up a guaranteed $25 million but instantly buys his freedom.

And that's the option Tucker just chose.

Earlier today Tucker posted the following video to Twitter in which he reveals his decision to opt-out of his Fox contract and launch a new show on Twitter:

You may be asking, "How can someone quit something they were fired from?" Well the answer is a bit of a semantics game. Tucker wasn't "fired" by Fox in the way that you may have been fired from a job. A better way of phrasing it would be that Tucker's show was taken off the air, but Tucker himself was kept as an inactive employee.

You may also be asking, "What is a Twitter show?" I have no clue. I also don't know how Tucker plans to make $10+ million from a Twitter show. Maybe Elon Musk is simply going to pay him $10 million per year to be exclusive to Twitter. Or maybe Tucker's show will be a Twitter Blue exclusive and he'll get a cut of the subscription fees?

Either way, ballsy move for Tucker! Personally, I would have taken the $25 million.

Read more: Tucker Carlson Sets $25 Million On Fire To Launch Twitter Show

"I'll bet anyone $1 million dollars that the US does not enter hyperinflation," the latter tweeted, leading to this somewhat complex response from Srinivasan:

"I will take that bet.
You buy 1 BTC.
I will send $1M USD.
This is ~40:1 odds as 1 BTC is worth ~$26k.
The term is 90 days.
All we need is a mutually agreed custodian who will still be there to settle this in the event of digital dollar devaluation.
If someone knows how to do this with a smart contract, we can do it on chain, so I can send USDC.
If you won't do that, name a custodian."

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Twitter user @jdcmedlock, who goes by the name Jason Medlock online, told Quartz that his originally tweet was just a joke that Srinivasan apparently didn't get:

"The joke itself was that, in the event of hyperinflation, the million dollars wouldn't be worth very much anyways, so it was a no-lose situation…But hyperinflation is extremely rare, usually happening in times of conflict or institutional collapse. With the US dollar being the global reserve currency and our institutions being relatively stable, hyperinflation today would be without precedent. In fact, a banking crisis might end up being deflationary, as the loss of deposits would reduce demand."

Srinivasan ended up settling the bet well before the 90-day deadline explaining in a post on his blog that he did so to make a point: "I spent my own money to send a provably costly signal that there's something wrong with the economy, and that it's not going to be merely a financial crisis, but a fiat crisis."

As for Medlock, he says he's given away $500,000 of his winnings to charity, and paid another $240,000 in taxes on the payment. As for what he plans to do with the rest, he tells Quartz:

"I'll pay off some debt, build a nice cat house for my neighborhood feral, and invest in a much better investment than BTC, namely low-fee index funds."

Medlock is clearly a Bitcoin skeptic, but he did manage to win a million dollar bet thanks to enthusiasm from one of its adherents, so maybe it isn't all bad in his book.

Read more: Crypto Investor Balaji Srinivasan Loses $1 Million Bitcoin Bet

The disclosure that Shell's stock options and grants have been forfeited and canceled came from NBCUniversal parent company Comcast, which received a complaint from CNBC International anchor Hadley Gamble accusing Shell of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination against her.

Shell released an apologetic press statement on his exit from the company:

"I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret. I'm truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege."

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Comcast hasn't commented publicly on the firing outside of a filing with the SEC, which was reported on by CNN. It reads in part:

"Following a complaint that Jeffrey Shell, CEO of NBCUniversal, engaged in inappropriate conduct with a female employee, including allegations of sexual harassment, Comcast Corporation retained outside counsel to investigate the allegations. During the investigation, evidence was uncovered that corroborated the allegations. As a consequence, on April 23, 2023, the company terminated Mr. Shell's employment with cause under his employment agreement, effective immediately."

Having been fired with cause, Shell won't be getting any severance or any "supplemental benefits" that might have been provided for in his contract, but he isn't going home completely empty handed either. He'll receive the balance of his unpaid base salary, plus his unused vacation time and vested employee benefits, plus any reimbursements he's owed for business expenses. Last year, his total compensation came to a reported $21 million.

Read more: "Inappropriate Relationship" Will Cost Recently-Fired NBC Exec Jeff Shell $43.3 Million Golden Parachute

Grainge will earn a salary of $5 million, a fairly paltry sum by top executive standards, with an annual performance bonus of $10 million. But Grainge will be able to earn some real money thanks to that equity award, half of which is made up of stock options that will be paid out if the company hits certain stock market benchmarks: 26.50 euros, 30 euros, and 38 euros (as of this writing, UMG's most recent traded price is 21.4 euros, or $23.32 US).

Cindy Ord/VF23/Getty Images

Throughout his illustrious career, Lucian Grainge has been instrumental in developing, rewarding, and maintaining relationships with a diverse roster of iconic artists. He has played a pivotal role in the careers of global superstars such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Ariana Grande, helping them grow and evolve within the music industry.

Additionally, Lucian has fostered the growth of numerous emerging talents such as Billie Eilish, Shawn Mendes, and Rosalía, whose exceptional artistry has greatly influenced the contemporary music landscape.

Even the legendary rapper Drake has acknowledged Lucian's impact on his career, name-checking him in the Migos song "Havin Our Way." On the song, Drake's verse contained this lyric:

"Shit done changed, billionaires talk to me different when they see my paystub from Lucian Grainge."

And Drake should be grateful to Lucian. The CEO was rewarded the rapper with an unprecedented $400 million overall contract back in May 2022.

Sherry Lansing is the Chairman of the Board at UMG, and she had this to say about Grainge's leadership in the press release:

"UMG is the world´s most successful music company and there are incredible opportunities ahead for a company with the right leadership and vision. The UMG Board is resolutely committed to converting those opportunities and maximizing shareholder value for the long term. Only the right kind of chief executive can help achieve that goal and Lucian is just the one to do it. Through his clear vision and strong execution in building UMG into the industry leader, Lucian has also essentially created a new category of music company. This agreement is designed to drive both the sustainable success of UMG and long-term shareholder value."

If that proves true and UMG grows in value on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange (where it's been listed since 2021), Grainge will be making quite a tidy sum in the process. If his stock options pay out to their maximum value, he'll be entering a rarified strata of executive compensation occupied by Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. CNBC reported that Cook made $83 million in stock awards (not including another $15 million in salary and other incentives) last year, while Nadella's total holdings in Microsoft stock is valued at a reported $280 million.

Grainge joined UMG in 1986, becoming its CEO 24 years later. His new contract is now extended through May 1, 2028.

Read more: After Giving Drake $400 Million, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge Is Grabbing A Huge Bag For Himself