GoPro founder named the highest paid CEO in U.S. — and is just 39 years old

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GoPro, the company Woodman founded 11 years ago in California, went public last June. Woodman is now worth $2.4 billion.
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GoPro's founder Nick Woodman is set to be named the highest paid CEO in the country after being granted 4.5 million restricted stock units, valued at over $284 million.
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Nick Woodman (c.) topped the list despite being among the younger CEOs in the country at the age of 39, with an analyst calling the salary and perks "appropriate."

PUBLISHED: April 17, 2015 at 10:50 a.m. | UPDATED: April 9, 2018 at 3:57 p.m.

The billionaire founder of wearable action camera brand GoPro is set to be named the highest-paid CEO in the U.S. — at the tender age of just 39.

Nick Woodman has toppled Cheniere Energy’s Charif Souki to take the top spot on the Bloomberg Pay Index, according to the business news website.

He made the leap after being granted 4.5 million restricted stock units — that were valued at an astonishing $284.5 million — at the end of 2014.

Souki, meanwhile, was awarded a still whopping $281 million.

Nick Woodman (c.) topped the list despite being among the younger CEOs in the country at the age of 39, with an analyst calling the salary and perks “appropriate.”

But Bloomberg, which tracks the 100 highest-paid executives that appear in regulatory filings for companies that trade on U.S. exchanges, reports that his pay is now set to be cut.

GoPro spokesman Jeff Brown declined to comment on the news.

But JMP Securities LLC analyst Alex Gauna, who recommends his investors buy shares in the action camera company, said the salary and perks afforded to Woodman were “appropriate.”

GoPro, the company Woodman founded 11 years ago in California, went public last June. Woodman is now worth $2.4 billion.

“Nick Woodman is a special entrepreneur and is instrumental to the company’s success both through his vision and leadership,” Gauna added.

GoPro, which is based in San Mateo, California, was founded 11 years ago in 2004 after Woodman – who has a reported net worth of $2.4 billion — got the idea while on a surfing trip.