Revealed: Steve Ells's Assets & Salary & Career Highlights Net Worth 2026: Career Earnings & Assets
Updated: May 05, 2026
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Revealed: Steve Ells's Assets & Salary & Career Highlights - Profile Status:
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As one of the most talked-about figures, Steve Ells has built a significant fortune. In this article, we dive deep into the assets and career highlights.
What Is Steve Ells' Net Worth and Salary?
Compensation and Career Earnings
Before stepping down from the board in 2020, SEC filings showed he owned approximately 208,339 shares on a pre-split basis. In June 2024, Chipotle executed a 50-for-1 stock split, which increased his equivalent holdings to roughly 10.4 million shares.
These figures placed him among the highest-paid executives in the restaurant industry during his tenure.
As of this writing, Steve Ells owns 208,339 shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) stock. When CMG's stock price crossed $2,000 in June 2023, Steve's stake was worth a little over $400 million on paper. He has sold a total of 268,339 shares over the years for hundreds of millions in pre-tax proceeds. The most recent sale was on February 28, 2020, when he sold 119,104 shares for $795.53 per share. The total proceeds from the sale were $95,359,040.
Key compensation years include:
Chipotle Equity and Net Worth
Over his tenure at Chipotle, Ells earned approximately $116.1 million in salary, bonuses, and stock-based compensation. His pay was heavily weighted toward equity, which amplified both its value and the controversy surrounding it.
As of March 2026, Chipotle trades at approximately $34 per share, giving the company a market cap of around $44 billion. At that price, Ells' stake would be worth roughly $350 million, assuming he has not sold shares since 2020.
Steve Ells is an American businessman who has a net worth of $500 million. Steve Ells earned his fortune as the founder of Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Ells' fortune today is driven primarily by his remaining Chipotle stake.
During his time serving as CEO of Chipotle, Ells earned a total of $116.1 million in salary and bonuses. His highest earning year was 2014, when he earned $29 million. He resigned as CEO in 2017.
In summary, the total wealth of Steve Ells reflects strategic moves.
Disclaimer: All net worth figures are estimates based on public data.