Nice CEO earns $12.8 million as shares slide 43%
Scott Russell tops pay rankings even as investors face steep losses.
Nice CEO Scott Russell received compensation of NIS 40 million ($12.8 million) in 2025. Alongside him, four other senior executives at the company earned a combined NIS 74 million ($23.6 million), even as the company’s stock fell 43% during the year.
At Matrix IT, CEO Moti Gutman received NIS 18.2 million ($5.8 million), after the company pushed through his compensation terms despite shareholder opposition.
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From right: Moti Gutman, CEO of Matrix; Bezhalel Machlis, CEO of Elbit; and Scott Russell, CEO of NICE
(Ilya Malenkov, Elad Gershgorn, Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, ICL Group reported a 44% decline in net profit in 2025, while its shares rose less than 5%, significantly underperforming the TA-125 Index, which gained 51%. Despite this, CEO Elad Aharonson received NIS 18 million ($5.8 million).
Russell, Gutman, and Aharonson rank among the highest-paid executives of companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 2025. As annual report season progresses, companies are disclosing executive compensation alongside financial performance, revealing a widening gap between pay and shareholder returns.
The available data remains partial. Several major companies have yet to publish 2025 compensation figures.
Among them are Teva Pharmaceutical Industries CEO Richard Francis and CFO Eli Kalif, whose 2024 compensation totaled NIS 57.4 million ($18.3 million) and NIS 22.8 million ($7.3 million), respectively.
Also pending are figures for Electra CEO Itamar Deutscher, who earned NIS 17.7 million ($5.7 million) in 2024, including NIS 7.2 million ($2.3 million) in options approved despite repeated shareholder opposition.
At Formula Systems, CEO Guy Bernstein received NIS 38 million ($12.1 million) in 2024, largely driven by a share grant originally valued at NIS 171 million ($54.6 million). That award is expected to continue boosting his compensation through 2027.
Bernstein is also linked to Matrix through his role as chairman. He oversaw the approval of Gutman’s compensation in 2022, despite shareholder opposition, marking the fifth such override since 2015.
The package included annual bonuses of up to NIS 14 million ($4.5 million) and share allocations worth NIS 28.5 million ($9.1 million). Gutman’s compensation reached NIS 18.2 million ($5.8 million) in 2025, following NIS 23.7 million ($7.6 million) the previous year.
Matrix reported strong results, with revenue reaching NIS 6.2 billion ($2.0 billion) and net profit rising 14.6% to NIS 330 million ($105 million). Its shares rose 68% in 2025, though they have fallen 31% since the start of 2026 amid concerns about the impact of AI on traditional IT services.
Russell was among the highest-paid executives, alongside Bezhalel Machlis, who earned NIS 32.7 million ($10.4 million).
Nice reported strong operational results, with revenue rising 8% to NIS 2.9 billion ($927 million) and net profit reaching $612 million. However, its stock declined sharply, reflecting investor concerns about its positioning in the AI era.
This marks the second consecutive year Nice has topped the executive pay rankings, following former CEO Barak Eilam, who earned NIS 87 million ($27.8 million) in 2024.
Only three of the seven companies where CEOs or chairmen earned more than NIS 10 million ($3.2 million) outperformed the TA-125 index.
The standout was Elbit Systems. The company benefited from rising global defense demand, posting $8 billion in annual revenue and a backlog of $28 billion, up 24%.
Its shares rose 94% in 2025 and a further 57% since January, reaching a valuation of NIS 143 billion ($45.7 billion) before easing slightly.
At ICL, revenue rose 5% to $7.2 billion, but profitability declined due to weakness in certain segments and provisions totaling $239 million.
The stock has fallen 25% since November, partly due to concerns over the future of its Dead Sea concession.
Aharonson, who took over as CEO in 2025, earned NIS 18 million ($5.8 million), compared with NIS 6.9 million ($2.2 million) in 2024.
