Gilead Sciences' revenue may be shrinking, but CEO John Milligan just got an 11% raise

Gilead Sciences completely transformed its business model last year when it got into the cell-therapy field by buying CAR-T developer Kite Pharma for $11.9 billion. Its top line won't be transformed so quickly. Kite’s cancer CAR-T, approved by the FDA in October, faced early reimbursement hurdles that hampered pickup. Declining sales in the company’s hepatitis C franchise drove Gilead’s total revenues for 2017 down 14% to $26.1 billion. But those challenges didn’t stop Gilead’s board from boosting CEO John Milligan’s pay package by 11% to $15.4 million for the year, according to the company’s latest proxy statement. Milligan's base salary increased just 3% to $1.54 million, but his stock and option awards grew, as did his incentive pay, which rose to $3.2 million from $2.6 million in 2016.