CEO Pay: Wall Street NOT in Top 10

The Wall Street Journal has completed its survey of CEO compensation from 456 US companies with revenue of at least $4 billion that filed proxies between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010.

Wall Street-haters will be quite pleased: bank and investment honchos didn't make it into the top 10. Only two financial services firms made it into the top 20--#13 was Lawrence Fink of Blackrock at $22.6 million and #20 was Jay Fishman of Travelers at $19.5 million.
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (he was the guy who took home a $68 million bonus in 2007!) looks like a bargain at $8.25 million, compared to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon at $15.1 million, though not nearly as good a deal as some former bank CEO's like Morgan Stanley's John Mack at $800,000 or Bank of America's Ken Lewis at $0!

Here are the top 10-earning CEO's:

1. Gregory B. Maffei of Liberty Media Corp $87.1 million: four times larger than his 2008 package
2. Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp $68.6 million: most of that took the form of options, valued at $61.9 million
3. Ray Irani, of Occidental Petroleum Corp $52.2 million: best-paid CEO in an April study, takes the bronze medal this time
4. Carol Bartz of Yahoo $44.6 million: not bad for her freshman year as CEO. Yahoo shares are up 41% from January 30, 2009
5. Leslie Moonves of CBS $37.6 million: package included nearly $13 million in stock option grants and $6 million in performance awards
6. Phillipe Daunman of Viacom $33.7 million: mostly from options, restricted shares and performance awards
7. Marc Casper of Thermo Fisher $33 million: option grants, restricted shares and performance awards combine for the bulk of the total comp
8. J. Raymond Elliot of Boston Scientific $32.1 million: 90 percent of comp consisted of long-term awards created when he was hired in July, 2009
9. Ralph Lauren of Polo Ralph Lauren $27 million: including a $19.5 million annual incentive
10. John Hammergren of McKesson $24.4 million: primarily from options and performance awards

The latest survey shows chief executives' pay increasing along with shareholder returns...Overall, median total direct compensation for CEOs in the sample rose 3.0% during their latest fiscal year, as total shareholder return came in at 29%. Total direct compensation includes salary, bonuses and the awarded value of stock, options and other long-term incentives. The gains were driven by higher company share prices and annual bonuses.

Are the Boards of Directors asleep at the switch or have they simply gone back to business as usual? At a time when so many in this country continue to suffer, I can't help but feel a little sick to my stomach as I review these numbers. Don't get me wrong--I think bosses should make money when they deliver results, but these figures demonstrate a complete lack of rationality, relative to what has occurred over the past three years.

Image by Flickr User Ben Sutherland, CC 2.0

Jill Schlesinger

Jill Schlesinger, CFP® is the Emmy-nominated business analyst for CBS News. She covers the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign on TV, radio (including her nationally syndicated radio show), the web and her blog, "Jill on Money." Prior to her second career at CBS, Jill spent 14 years as the co-owner and chief investment officer for an independent investment advisory firm. She began her career as a self-employed options trader on the Commodities Exchange of New York, following her graduation from Brown University.

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