Every spring, top U.S. media outlets and business research organizations begin releasing compensation surveys that detail executive pay levels over the preceding year. These surveys seldom sample the same corporations — or measure pay the same way — and, consequently, almost always generate somewhat different results. This Executive Pay Scorecard compares the various reports released in 2012 on CEO pay for 2011. We also have compiled scorecards that cover executive pay for 2010, 2009, and 2008.
National Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| GMI Ratings May 3, 2012 |
Covers pay at 817 Russell 3000 firms with proxies evaluated as of April 3, 2012. Pay totals include the gains realized in 2011 on options awarded in earlier years. | Michael Johnson, Herbalife, $89.4 million | Average, S&P 500-level: $12.1 million Median: $8.8 millionAverage, midcap-level: $6.3 million Median: $4.7 millionAverage, small caps-level: $3.5 million Median: $2.6 million |
Average, S&P 500: +8.5% Median: +1.4%Average, midcap: +14.6% Median: +3.4&Average, small cap: +11.3% Median: +1.6% |
Total realized compensation in the Russell 3000 saw a median increase of about 15 percent. |
| Economic Policy Institute May 2, 2012 |
Covers compensation at the top 350 U.S. companies as measured by sales. Calculates totals for both stock option gains realized in 2011 and options granted. | Average, options realized in 2011: +$12.14 millionAverage: options granted in 2011: +$11.08 million | Average, realized: +0.8%Average, granted: +0.7% |
Between 1978 and 2011, CEO pay, adjusted for inflation increased 759 percent, on options realized. Worker pay same period: up 5.7 percent. | |
| AFL-CIO PayWatch April 19, 2012 |
Covers compensation at nearly 300 major U.S. S & P 500 companies. Pay totals do not include the gains realized last year on options awarded in earlier years. | Timothy Cook, Apple, $378 million | Average: +$12.94 million | Average: +13.9% |
The CEO-worker pay ratio between CEOs of S&P 500 companies and U.S. workers widened to 380 times in 2011 from 343 times in 2010. |
| New York Times April 7, 2012 |
Covers pay for 100 best-paid CEOs at firms with over $5 billion in revenue filing by March 30. Pay includes salary, bonuses, new stock and option awards, and perks. Not included: award payouts from previous years. | Timothy Cook, Apple, $378 million | Median: $14.4 million | Median: +2% | In 2011, median weekly earnings for full-time U.S. wage and salary workers rose only about 1 percent, to $756, from $747 in 2010. Top CEOs averaged $277,000 per week. |
| Forbes April 4, 2012 |
Tally includes salary and cash bonuses, other pay such as vested stock grants, stock gains, and the value realized by exercised stock options for top 500 firms filing by March 25, 2011. | John Hammergren, McKesson, $131 million | Average: +$10.5million | Average: +16% | Drug and biotech CEOs pulled in the year’s biggest paychecks, averaging $18.3 million. Media top execs averaged $17.3 million. |
| USA Today March 29, 2012 |
Covers 150 Standard & Poor’s 500 index companies. Pay increase percentages cover the 138 firms with same CEO for all 2010 and 2011. | Philippe Dauman, Viacom, $43.1 million | Median: $9.6 million (not counting returns from stock and options awarded in previous years that vested or were cashed in during 2011)Median: $7.8 million (counting returns above) | Median: +2% (not counting returns from stock and options awarded in previous years that vested or were cashed)Median: 12% (counting returns above) | Listings do not include the Apple CEO Timothy Cook, who became the firm’s chief executive midway through 2011 with a $378 million pay package. |
Regional Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| Idaho Statesman May 13, 2012 |
Survey covers the 11 largest publicly traded companies in Idaho. | Steve Appleton, Micron Technology (passed away February 2012), $8.6 million | Average: +22% | The average Idaho wage rose 2 percent in 2011, to $35,644. | |
| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 12, 2012 |
Survey covers 55 publicly traded Wisconsin companies. | Stephen Roell, Johnson Controls, $22.34 million | Average: $4.21 million | Average: +8.35% | Top 10 CEO pay hikes averaged 25.5 percent. Average wage paid Wisconsin workers rose 2.9 percent, to $41,184. |
| Chicago Sun-Times May 6, 2012 |
Survey covers the 25 largest publicly traded companies in Illinois. | Sanjay Jha, Motorola Mobility, $47.15 million | Average: +25% | Pentagon contracts helped Boeing’s CEO to $25.4 million in 2011, up 14 percent from 2010. | |
| Chattanooga Times Free Press May 6, 2012 |
Survey covers the pay of the top nine area CEOs. | Thomas Watjen, Unum, $12.23 million | Average: +12.3% | Local CEO pay jumped over four times faster than worker pay in 2011. | |
| Las Vegas Review-Journal May 6, 2012 |
Survey covers the pay of the top 16 Las Vegas area CEOs. | Rajesh Shrotriya, Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, $25.2 million | Average: $8.39 million | Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn will get a $258.4 million golden parachute if a merger costs him his job. | |
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 6, 2012 |
Survey covers 27 large St. Louis companies that had the same CEO in 2010 and 2011. | Michael Lovett, Charter Communications, $20.5 million | Median: -5% | The five highest-paid CEOs in St. Louis took home more than $10 million each. | |
| Toledo Blade April 29, 2012 |
Survey covers 15 publicly traded companies in the Toledo area. | Gary Heminger, Marathon Petroleum, $19.2 million | Average: $4.09 million | Owens Corning CEO Mike Thaman, the list leader in 2010, saw his pay drop 5 percent to $9.3 million in 2011. | |
Economic Sector Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| Hedge Funds AR/Alpha March 30, 2012 |
Survey covers the 25 top hedge fund managers. Pay includes the managers’ shares of their firm’s performance and management fees, as well as gains on their own capital invested in their funds. | Raymond Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, $3.9 billion | Median: $235 millionAverage: $576 million |
Median: -41.2%Average: -34.8% |
The year’s average hedge fund earnings trail considerably the all-time record $1.1 billion average of 2009, but represent a 24 percent hike over 2008. |
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