Dara Khosrowshahi has come a long way since being forced to flee his home at the age of nine, and now he's laughing all the way to the bank.
That's because the now 46-year-old Iranian American, who has been the chief executive of Expedia Inc. since 2005, just raked in a whopping $125 million.
The travel chief's salary for the 2015 financial year was just disclosed by the Washington-based company in its annual report. Most of his compensation comes in the form of 2.7 million stock options, with a value of $109 million, that vest over five-and-a-half years.
There is one catch - in order to bank part ($1.4m) of his package, he must grow Expedia's stock price to $223 by September 2020, up from $152 currently. This is considered a fairly modest growth, though the online travel market is currently a challenging one.
In comparison, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce received a 490 per cent pay rise during the same financial year, racking in $11.8 million for his role in turning the Flying Kangaroo around.