stocktools
CEO · MRK
CEO$Executive Intelligence

Robert Davis

Chairman & CEO · Merck MRK
$20.8M
FY2025 total compensation
Filed · DEF 14A

Merck’s CEO since 2021, a former finance chief guiding the drugmaker through its dependence on the blockbuster cancer immunotherapy Keytruda and the search for what comes next.

Read Robert Davis’s net worth & biography →

CEO since2021
Born1966
Pay rank#39 of 50 tracked
Share Robert Davis's pay$20.8M in FY2025 — free, straight from the SEC proxy.

Pay vs performance

what happened while he earned it
CEO compensation$20.8M
Stock · since 2024+19.7%
S&P 500 · since 2024+40.5%
Revenue · YoY+1.3%
EPS · YoY+8.0%
CEO tenure5 yrs

No score, no opinion. Compensation is filed; stock and S&P are market returns over the window shown; revenue and EPS are latest reported vs the prior year. You decide.

Why this pay?

  • His fiscal 2025 pay was $20.8 million, down about 10% from the prior year on lower equity-grant values. The package is a roughly $1.65 million salary, stock and option awards, a formula cash incentive, and a small pension-value change.

Quick facts

CEO since2021
PreviouslyMerck
Largest pay componentStock & options · 74%
Pay rank (tracked)#39 of 50
EducationMiami University (BS); Kellogg (MBA); Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (JD)

Compensation breakdown

DEF 14A
total · FY2025$20,797,845
Salary$1,645,302
Cash incentive$2,326,500
Stock awards$12,102,838
Option awards$3,380,004
Change in pension value$685,143
All other comp$658,058
Total$20,797,845

Reuters reported the SCT total correctly at $20.8M; a $20.1M figure circulating elsewhere was wrong. Source: Merck 2026 Proxy (FY2025) →

Compensation history

salary + cash vs stock, from the proxies
$20.8MFY2025
Stock & optionsSalary & cashOther· prior years n/a

Related intelligence

every filing on Merck, one hop away
MRK workspace →Fundamentals, price, scoresInsiders →Every Form 4 buy & sellWhales →Funds adding or trimmingCongress →Who in Congress traded itEarnings →Latest report & reactionRed Flags →Health score & risk checksResearch report →Pick the modules you wantDCF value →Intrinsic-value estimate

Career

2021-presentChairman & CEO · Merck
2014-2021EVP & Chief Financial Officer · Merck
2004-2014CFO & President, Renal · Baxter International

Compare pay with

Joaquin DuatoJoaquin Duato$32.8MDavid RicksDavid Ricks$36.7MAlbert BourlaAlbert Bourla$27.6MAll CEOs →

Every figure ties to a filing. Compensation is the total from Merck's Summary Compensation Table for FY2025(grant-date values, which can differ from what an executive realizes when awards vest). We publish what the filings say, and we don't grade people.