BYD Company Limited (002594.SZ) recently released its 2025 annual report, drawing market attention to executive compensation. Zhou Yalin, the company's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, received a pre-tax annual salary of 10.135 million yuan, making her the first financial head in the A-share market to break the 10 million yuan threshold. Having joined the company in 1999, Zhou has seen her salary increase nearly eightfold over the past decade.
According to the annual report, Zhou's 2025 compensation rose by 1.175 million yuan from 8.96 million yuan in 2024, successfully surpassing the 10 million yuan milestone. Looking back at her career earnings trajectory, her annual salary was only 1.34 million yuan in 2015, representing an approximate eightfold increase over ten years.
This growth is not an isolated case, as several other BYD executives have also entered the "10 million yuan club." The report shows that Executive Vice President Li Ke received an annual salary of 14.261 million yuan, while other senior executives including He Zhiqi, He Long, Luo Hongbin, and Yang Dongsheng also earned over 10 million yuan.
As a homegrown financial executive at BYD, Zhou Yalin was born in 1977 and joined what was then BYD Industrial after graduating from Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics in 1999, starting from a junior accounting position. In November 2014, she was promoted to Chief Accountant, became Financial Controller in 2019, and advanced to Senior Vice President in 2021, taking comprehensive responsibility for the group's financial strategy.
Currently, she holds multiple positions including Financial Controller of BYD Electronic, Director of BYD Semiconductor, and Chairman of both BYD Auto Finance and BYD Property & Casualty Insurance, deeply involved in the company's capital operations, industrial finance, and global expansion. During her 26 years with BYD, she has witnessed and participated in the company's transformation from a battery manufacturer to a global leader in new energy vehicles, serving as a core architect of the company's financial system.
In terms of performance, BYD achieved annual revenue of 803.965 billion yuan in 2025, representing a 3.46% year-on-year increase and marking the first time exceeding the 800 billion yuan threshold. However, net profit attributable to shareholders declined by 18.97% to 32.619 billion yuan. During the reporting period, the company sold over 4.6 million new energy vehicles, maintaining its position as the global sales champion in this segment. Overseas revenue surged 40.05% to 310.74 billion yuan, becoming an important engine for business growth.
Zhou Yalin's 10 million yuan salary breaks the compensation ceiling for CFOs in the A-share market. Previously, the highest CFO compensation in A-shares was Zhong Zheng of Midea Group at 9.46 million yuan. As of April 2026, several A-share CFOs have reported pre-tax compensation exceeding 10 million yuan in their 2025 annual reports. Besides Zhou Yalin, SF Holding's CFO He Jie received total compensation of 10.262 million yuan in 2025, while AMEC's CFO Chen Weiwen reached 10.8029 million yuan.
Comments