The Most Highly Compensated Online Travel CEOs of 2018

Stephen Kaufer, CEO of TripAdvisor, was the most-compensated chieftain in online travel last year and — at $43.2 million — the fifth most-highly-compensated CEO among Fortune 500 public companies in the U.S., following only the CEOs at Broadcom, CBS, TransDigm, and Time Warner.

TripAdvisor was quick to point out that the 55-year-old Kaufer received grants of options and restricted stock valued at $42.1 million. The earliest it would ever consider giving him another stock grant as long-term incentive compensation would be 2021.

Kaufer's compensation last year of $1.23 million is much more typical, the company said.

Looking at compensation across the online travel sector became a look at somewhat new names.

Expedia Group's CEO Mark Okerstrom, 45, became president and CEO as of September, 2017, having previously served as the conglomerate's chief financial officer since September 2011.

After that ascension, Okerstrom became 2017's next-most-highly-compensated online travel agency executive.

Expedia set the annual base salary for Okerstrom at the same level as it had for Khosrowshahi: $1 million. Given that Okerstrom started the job mid-year, his blended base salary for 2017 worked out to $824,039. But that's not all, of course. Expedia also awarded Okerstrom a $1.25 million cash bonus and stock awards valued at $3.48 million.

The company's largesse primarily came in the form of compensation tied to stock options that it estimated were worth $25.1 million.

The ultimate value of those options will depend on his performance and the trajectory of the company's shar