Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality

The Too Much Executive Pay Scoreboard
This Too Much table compares the various reports released in 2008 on CEO pay for 2007. Also available from Too Much: comparisons of the major CEO pay reports released in 2007, 2006, and 2005. We tabulate the executive pay reports released in 2009 here.
National Pay Reports
Source	Methodology	Top Pay	Median/Avg	Increase	Worth Noting
Bloomberg News March 26, 2008	Analysis by Bloomberg's Graef Crystal, based on data collected from Equilar, covers the 107 CEOs at companies with market caps of at least $2 billion whose fiscal years ended December 31, 2007.	Kenneth Chenault, American Express, $55.8 million	Average: $12.1 million	Average: 12%	This year's 12 percent pay hike more than tripled the 3.6 percent increase in the national weekly wage for U.S. workers in 2007.
New York Times April 6, 2008	Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers 200 chief executives at large public companies that filed proxies for last year by March 28, 2008. Pay includes base salary, bonuses, perks, and awards of stock or stock options made during the year. Not included: gains from stock options awarded in preceding years.	John Thain, Merrill Lynch, $83.8 million	Median: $9.4 million Average: $11.7 million	Median: 6% Average: 5%	CEOs at the 10 top financial services firms surveyed collected a combined $320 million, in a year that the companies they led “reported mortgage-related losses that totaled $55 billion.”
USA Today April 9, 2008	Survey, based on data from Salary.com, covers CEO pay at 50 S&P 500 companies that had filed proxies through March 2008. Pay includes salary, cash bonuses, and grants of stock and stock options, as well as perks, but not gains from options awarded in prior years.	John Thain, Merrill Lynch, $83.1 million	Median: $15.7 million		Oracle CEO Larry Ellison collected $61.2 million in annual pay for 2007 and pocketed another $181.8 million cashing out options he took home in previous years.
Equilar April 10, 2008	Survey, conducted by this California-based executive pay research company, covers CEO compensation at 233 S&P 500 firms where the chief executive has been “in place for at least two years.” Pay does not include gains from options awarded in previous years.		Median: $8.8 million	Median: 1.3%	CEOs continue to boost their take-homes with pension benefits and deferred pay. In 2007, for S&P 500 firms reporting two years of data under the new SEC disclosure rules, the median accumulated CEO pension benefit jumped to $6.1 million, a 29.5% increase. At these firms, the median deferred pay plan balance soared 54.3% to $4.5 million.
Wall Street Journal April 14, 2008	Survey, conducted by the Hay Group, covers CEOS at 200 major U.S. corporations with over $5 billion in revenue. Total direct pay covers “salaries, bonuses, other annual incentives as well as the value of restricted stock, stock options, and other long-term incentive awards at the time they were granted.”	John Thain, Merrill Lynch, $78.5 million	Median: $8,848,000	Median: 3.5%	Of the 200 CEOs in the survey, 125 during 2007 cashed in stock options they had collected in previous years. These execs scored a $4,869,648 median gain.
Forbes May 1, 2008	Survey covers CEOs at the 500 biggest U.S. companies as measured by “ sales, profits, assets. and market value.” Included in pay: all "compensation when it turns into cash or marketable stock." Forbes tallies stock options when executives exercise them.	Lawrence Ellison, Oracle, $192.9 million	Average: $12.8 million	Average: down 15%	Overall, the top 500 U.S. CEOs collected $6.4 billion in compensation last year. In 2006, their average pay increased 38 percent.
Associated Press June 13, 2008	Survey covers pay for CEOs of companies in the S&P 500. Pay includes “salary, perks, bonuses, above-market interest on pay set aside for later, and company estimates for the value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted last year."	John Thain, Merrill Lynch, $83 million	Median: $8.3 million	Median: 3.5%	The 10 top-paid CEOs on the AP collected over half a billion, yet half of them led “companies whose profits shrank dramatically.."
What They Are Paid?	This new Web site analyzes executive pay at the 30 firms that make up the Dow Jones Index. The site's Fair Pay Index rates, on a A-F grade scale, each company's executive compensation program.		Average Fair Pay Index Rating for CEOs: $1.5 million salary, $650,000 bonus, $6.4 million stock awards, $3.7 million option grants, $4.2 million non-equity incentives		The Fair Pay Index gave the year's lowest grade, F-, to United Technologies, where the CEO exercised options that produced a $54.7 million personal profit.
Corporate Library December 9, 2008	Survey covers chief executives at 2,701 companies. Pay includes personal profits from exercising previously awarded stock options.	Larry Ellison, CEO, Oracle, $192 million	Median: $2.05 million	Median, for 1,864 execs who received a pay hike in 2007: 7.5%	Four of 2007's 13 top-paid CEOs hailed from finance: Angelo Mozilo, Countrywide, $124 million; Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs, $76 million; Richard Fairbank, Capital One, $73 million; and Richard Fuld, Lehman Brothers, $71 million.

Regional Pay Reports
Source	Methodology	Top Pay	Median/Avg	Increase	Worth Noting
Minneapolis Star Tribune May 18, 2008	Survey covers Minnesota's 100 highest-paid CEOs in 2007. Pay includes gains “on the exercise of previously issued stock options.”	Robert Ulrich, Target, $116 million	Median: $1.5 million	Median: 11%	Minnesota CEO pay in 2007 rose well over twice as fast as average pay for Midwest managers and professionals.
San Diego Union-Tribune June 8, 2008	Survey looked at gains from stock optiions to tally San Diego area's best-paid CEOs for 2007.	Gregory Lucier, Invitrogen, $29.3 million	Average (salary and bonus only): $639,939	Average (salary and bonus only): 3.7%	In 2007, 103 San Diego-area execs took home at least $1 million, up three from 2006.
Seattle Times June 14, 2008	Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers the pay packages of 140 CEOs at publicly traded companies based in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Pay includes base salary, bonuses, cash-incentive plan payouts, stock and option awards, and perks. Does not include gains realized from option exercises.	James Voelker, InfoSpace, $38.1 million	Median, all CEOs in place both 2006 and 2007: $1.3 nillion. Median, 20 best-paid CEOs in place both years: $8 million.	Median, all CEOs: 8.3% Median, top 20: 31.1%	Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos collected $1.3 million in pay last year. So far this year he has collected about $304 million selling off shares from his personal stash of Amazon stock. He still holds shares worth about $7.7 billion.
Spokane Journal of Business July 10, 2008	Survey covers pay 87 executives from 18 publicly traded companies in the Inland Northwest. Pay does not include gains from exercised stock options.	Michael Covey, Potlatch Corp., $3.9 million	Average, all executives: $757,000 Average, CEOs: $1.3 million	Average, all executives: 12.2% Average, CEOs: down 9%	Executives in this survey hold an additional average $352,000 each in "unvested restricted stock and performance-share units."
Houston Chronicle July 19, 2008	Survey, conducted by Longnecker & Associates, evaluated executive pay at 145 publicly traded Houston-area companies with revenue of at least $100 million. Pay does not include gains from exercised stock options.	James Mulva, ConocoPhillips, $50.5 million	Average for top 100 executives: $8.1 million	Average for top 100 executives: 31%	The 10 top-paid executives on the Houston Chronicle list all hail from energy companies.
Washington Post July 28, 2008	Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers the 100 highest-paid executives in the Wasgington, D.C. area. Pay does not include the gains from exercised options.	Robert Stevens, CEO, Lockheed Martin, $26 million	Average: $6.6 million		The six top-earning Lockheed executives pocketed $52.8 million for the year.
Charlotte News & Observer December 1, 2008	Survey covers compensation at the 50 biggest publicly traded companies in the Carolinas. Pay includes base salary, bonuses, the value of stock awards, and profits from exercising stock options.	Robert McGehee, CEO, Progress Energy, $21.6 million	Average: $5.5 million		The 50 highest-paid execs in the Carolinas pulled in an average $105,969 a week, about triple what typical workers in the Carolinas make for an entire year.

Economic Sector Pay Reports
Source	Methodology	Top Pay	Median/Avg	Increase	Worth Noting
Alpha April 15, 2008	Survey covers the 50 top hedge fund managers. Pay includes “managers’ share of their firm’s performance and management fees, as well as gains on their own capital.” Pay does not include any earnings a hedge fund manager may have made by either selling a fund or shares of stock in it.	John Paulson, Paulson & Co., $3.7 billion	Average, top 25: $892 million Average, top 50: $581 million.	Average, top 25: up 67%	In 2006. 25 hedge fund managers made at least $230 million. This year, 43 walked off with at least that many millions. In 2002, hedge fund managers only needed $30 million to make the top 25.

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The Too Much Executive Pay Scoreboard