The compensation package, which jumped 999% from 2023, exceeded that of Apple’s Tim Cook (US$75 million) and General Electric’s Larry Culp (US$89 million), according to The Wall Street Journal.
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Axon CEO Rick Smith addresses Axon employees and lawmakers during a rally at the Arizona state Capitol in Phoenix on March 4, 2025, in support of a bill that would squash a referendum attempt against their proposed Scottsdale headquarters. Photo by Reuters |
Smith, who has led Axon since 1993, became a billionaire last year after the company revised its CEO pay strategy.
The company’s pay model was modeled after Elon Musk’s Tesla package. His pay was predominantly stock-based, with Axon’s shares more than doubling in 2023 and rising over 50% further in 2024, Fortune reported.
The company’s revenue grew over 30% annually for three years, achieving a record US$377 million net income in 2024.
This performance elevated Smith to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a US$2.5 billion net worth.
This compensation structure, however, carries risks: if Axon fails to meet stock price, operational targets, or service requirements from 2024 to 2030, Smith’s full payout is not guaranteed.
An Axon spokesperson told Fortune that the $165 million package “does not represent realized pay, but rather the potential value of the award if all performance milestones are fully achieved over the life of the program.”
Two of Axon’s seven performance targets were reportedly met by March.
Smith’s income has risen side-by-side with his company’s performance.
In 2019, his compensation reached US$246 million, driven by rising stocks. Over the past year, Axon’s stock price climbed 160%, boosting its market cap to $50 billion and valuing the shares tied to Smith’s awards at approximately US$500 million.
Controversial backstory
Axon centers its mission on saving lives, promoting the stun gun brand Tasers as a less-lethal alternative to firearms.
Smith has frequently cited the shooting deaths of two high school football teammates as his motivation for starting the company.
He has shared this story with law enforcement audiences, included it in a 2020 filing, and featured it in Axon’s 30th-anniversary campaign.
However, a Reuters investigation found discrepancies, suggesting Smith was not close friends with the victims and misstated details about the incident.
Axon spokesperson Alex Engel told Reuters that Smith knew the victims through “team-related social events.”
The father of one victim accused Axon of building “a whole advertising campaign based on the murder of [his] son.” The victim’s sister also criticized Smith, saying he was “making money off of being a great liar.”
Despite the controversy, an Axon spokesperson told Fortune that the company stands by Smith’s claim that the tragedy inspired “him to dedicate his life to reducing violence through technology.”
The spokesperson criticized Reuters’ reporting as a “five-year crusade to falsely defame our company,” adding, “We’re proud of the mission-driven culture at Axon and remain focused on the work ahead.”
‘Making bullets obsolete’
In a country where mass shootings have surged in number in recent years, Smith believes that his company can contribute to the reduction of deadly weapon usage.
At least 80% of large police departments across the U.S. use body cameras, and many of those are manufactured by Axon.
“We are on a mission to make the bullet obsolete, and specifically cut gun deaths in policing by 50% over the next ten years,” he told CNBC in February.
“We are going to do that with tasers, body cameras, cloud software, and now we have got an AI business that is on fire.”
Smith explained that Axon now leverages body camera footage and AI to assist police in generating initial drafts of police reports, stating that this technology enhances departments’ manpower.
He claimed that the AI services introduced by the company this year are selling at a rate five times faster than any previous product in Axon’s history.
