Tax law was changed in the mid 90's. Here is an article about it:
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-executive-pay-cap-that-backfired
"Clinton’s victory and a Democratic Congress resulted in a tax law change that limited companies’ deductions for executives’ compensation to $1 million per executive per year. That’s the amount that Clinton proposed for chief executives in “
Putting People First,” a campaign book that he co-authored with Al Gore.
The compensation deduction limit, known to tax techies as
Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code, was adopted in a 1993 bill that also increased taxes on higher-income Social Security recipients and reduced deductions for business meals. "
Companies shifted to awarding stock and stock options instead of compensation after that time.