Highest Paid CEOs

[Locutus]

Which CEOs Earn the Most?

Executive compensation is a hot-button issue, particularly in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and reforms enacted under the Dodd-Frank Act .

Increasingly, shareholders are asking whether CEOs are worth many millions of dollars in annual compensation. Using a new rule called “ Say on Pay ,” shareholders now get a nonbinding vote for or against an executive’s compensation.

As a result, at least one well-known CEO was driven from his perch this year: In April, Citigroup shareholders voted against Vikram Pandit’s pay package . By October, Pandit was out.

CNBC.com sifted through data from the S&P 500 to find the 21 CEOs with the largest average compensation packages over the last four years, from 2007 to 2011. (Figures for 2012 are incomplete.)

See the slideshow (yeah, I know) here:

Highest Paid CEOs - CNBC

 

[wulfie68]

Using a new rule called “ Say on Pay ,” shareholders now get a nonbinding vote for or against an executive’s compensation.

What I don't understand is how a shareholders' vote can be non-binding: they own the bloody company so how is it, they don't get a say in how it is run? If the board refuses to obey the will of the shareholders, they should be turfed too!

 

[L Gilbert]

Personally, I think CEO's should be paid on a commission basis. If they run a company into the ground or cause it to even lose, they get nothing.
You get what you are worth sort of idea.

 

[damngrumpy]

The idea of paying someone to do a job and then give them a bonus for doing a job is nuts.
People should be paid well of running a company properly. That means they need to be
aware of the bottom line but they need to be aware of all the other factors that makes a
company successful. I think a definite sum plus commission works but the commission
portion needs to be defined.
I think the payment schedule needs to be redone too many people are making far too much
money for what they do. the whole thing is based on a false premise anyway.

 

[captain morgan]

Personally, I think CEO's should be paid on a commission basis. If they run a company into the ground or cause it to even lose, they get nothing.
You get what you are worth sort of idea.

Conceivably, that arrangement could easily result in even higher rates of pay during the natural upswing cycles in the economy.... Also, factor-in the pressure to ride the line on legal/ethical behaviour (sub prime mortgages come to mind)