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I continue to tilt at the robber barron CEO pay packages (2007 post on CEO pay abuses).
| 2007 pay rank |
Company | CEO | Pay | 5 Year Pay | CEO % of 2007 Earnings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple | Steve Jobs | $646,600,000 | $650,170,000 |
| 18.5% |
| 2 | Occidental Petroleum | Ray Irani | $321,640,000 | $509,530,000 |
| 5.9% |
| 3 | IAC | Barry Diller | $295,140,000 | $512,270,000 |
| Company Lost Money |
| 4 | Fidelity National Financial | William Folley | $179,560,000 | NA |
| 138.4% |
| 5 | Yahoo! | Terry Semel | $174,200,000 | $432,490,000 |
| 26.4% |
| 7 | Countrywide Financial | Angelo Mozilo | $141,980,000 | $295,730,000 |
| Company Lost Money |
| 13 | XTO Energy | Bob Simpson | $72,270,000 | $215,280,000 |
| 4.2% |
Data via: Forbes CEO Compensation (Total compensation for each chief executive includes the following: salary and bonuses; other compensation, such as vested restricted stock grants, LTIP payouts and perks; and stock gains, the value realized by exercising stock options.) and Google Finance (using 2007 earnings – Countrywide from SEC). I realize this chart could be improved by spending more time (the effect of stock options exercised in one year distorts things a bit but the excess are so massively huge that the clarity of the data does not need to be very precise).
Does the percentage tell the whole story? No. For example, Countrywide went out of business. Does anyone believe they made a profit of $2.7 billion as they claimed in 2006 (the accounting gains they claimed in 2006 were not an accurate reflection of the condition of the company)? As I have mentioned I personally see all of Deming’s deadly diseases as still problems today and I would add excessive executive pay to my list of deadly diseases.
Excessive Executive Pay 2005 – “As long as the pay packages were merely large, and didn’t effect the ability of a company to prosper that could continue (slicing up the benefits between the stakeholders is not an exact science). The excesses recently have become so obscene as to become unsustainable. Companies will not be able to compete if they allocate huge portions of the benefits provided by the operations of the company to the few sitting on top of the bureaucracy.”
Drucker on Executive pay: In 1977, his answer was, no. As pay did become excessive, Drucker became a prominent voice against the unjust pay of CEO’s. From the Economist: In the late 1990s he turned into one of America’s leading critics of soaring executive pay, warning that “in the next economic downturn, there will be an outbreak of bitterness and contempt for the super-corporate chieftains who pay themselves millions.”
Related: Obscene CEO Pay (with chart) – Unconscionable Executive Pay (at WaMU, not out of business) – Warren Buffett on Excessive CEO Pay – Toyota’s CEO pay under $1 million – CEOs Plundering Corporate Coffers
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November 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
The family that had owned the company gave surprise bonuses of $6.6 million to the 230 employees (an average of over $28,000)…
December 8th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
[...] the least they possibly can while they are in good times. But of course the success has to result rewarding executives with obscene amounts of money. Then times are tough and they cry that they can’t meet their obligations. How do we let [...]
April 6th, 2009 at 10:24 am
These guys and their friends have created a culture where their looting is as accepted as the clothes the emperor is not wearing. We need to wake up and stop letting these people steal the bounty created by the employees, customers, community, suppliers, investors…
May 29th, 2009 at 11:30 am
[...] Tilting at Ludicrous CEO Pay 2008 – Better and Different – Innovation Examples by John Hunter Tags: Management, [...]
July 11th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Wow I can’t believe Steve Jobs makes that much money! I know he made Apple what they are today, but man that’s a lot of money. I have long call stock options on Apple and plan on holding them until they expire. Thanks for the blog post this is very good information!