Every spring, top media outlets and business research organizations in the United States release compensation surveys that detail executive pay levels over the preceding year. These surveys seldom sample the same corporations — or measure pay the exact same way — and, consequently, almost always generate somewhat different results. This Too Much table compares the various reports released in 2009 on CEO pay for 2008.
National Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| Wall Street Journal April 3, 2009 |
Survey, by the Hay Group, covers CEOs at the first 200 firms with over $5 billion in revenue to file 2008 data. Total direct compensation covers salaries, bonuses, and the value of new stock awards. Not included: perks, tax gross-ups, changes in pension value and deferred pay earnings, and earnings from previously awarded options. | Sanjay Jha, Motorola, $104 million | Median: $7,560,000 | Median: -3.4% | Health care industry top executives led the 2008 pay parade. The typical health care CEO took in $12,446,800 in total direct compensation for the year. In the financial industry, median total direct pay fell 14.2 percent, to $7.6 million. |
| New York Times April 5, 2009 |
Survey, compiled by Equilar, reflects pay for 200 CEOs at publicly traded companies that filed their annual proxies by March 27, 2009 and took in revenues of at least $6.3 billion. Pay includes salary, cash bonuses, the grant date value of stock and stock option awards, and perks. Does not include payouts from stock awards made in previous years. | Sanjay Jha, Motorola, $104 million | Median, $8.4 million Average, $10.8 million |
Median, -9.4% Average, -5.1% |
CEOs at the bottom of this year’s survey actually did quite well in 2008. Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank, for instance, ranked 196th and took in nothing in salary and bonus. But Fairbank did clear $19.2 million cashing in stock options he collected before 2008. |
| Equilar April 7, 2009 |
This survey from Equilar, an info services firm that tracks executive pay, covers 208 S&P 500 CEOs at companies with fiscal years ending between June 2008 and January 2009, with each CEO in place at least two years. Pay includes salary, bonus, grant date value of stock awards, and perks. Does not include payouts from stock awards made in previous years. | Median, $8,446,935 | Median, -6.8% | The typical S&P 500 CEO took home a cash bonus of $1,473,520 in 2008, a total off 20.6% the 2007 median median payout. In 2008, a year of economic collapse, 85.6% of the CEOs in the Equilar survey pocketed a cash bonus. | |
| Forbes April 22, 2009 |
Survey covers the chief execs at the 500 biggest U.S. companies, measured by sales, profits, assets, and market value. Pay includes salary, bonus, the value realized from vesting of restricted stock and performance shares, perks, and stock gains from exercising options. | Larry Ellison, Oracle, $557 million | Average: $11.4 million | Average: -11% | The $5.7 billion that went to 2008’s top 500 CEOs equaled 3 percent of company profits. The top bonuses for the year: $18.5 million for Leslie Moonves, CBS, and $17.5 million for Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. |
| Associated Press April 30, 2009 |
Survey, based on data from Standard & Poor’s, covers 309 firms in the S&P 500 that had filed pay figures through April 20 and had the same CEO the last two years. Pay includes “salary, perks, bonuses, preferential interest on deferred pay, and company estimates for the present value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted last year.” Not covered: gains realized last year from the exercise of stock option awards. | Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy, $112.5 million | Median: $7.6 million | Median: -7% | The 10 highest-paid CEOs on the AP list pocketed $538 million, $50 million off the 2007 top ten total. Four of the 2008 top ten came from financial services firms: Goldman Sachs, American Express, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase. All these enterprises have received dollars from the federal bailout program. |
| USA Today May 1, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by the AP, covers “387 S&P 500 companies that filed proxies this calendar year through April 20.” | Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy, $112.5 million | Median: $7.6 million | Median: -7% | Despite the 2008 economic meltdown, only 56 percent of the CEOs on the job in both 2007 and 2008 received a smaller bonus in 2008. |
| Economic Research Institute May 13, 2009 |
Survey by ERI, a Redmond, Washington-based compensation info firm, covers the year from May 2008 to May 2009. The ERI figures “reflect data from a representative group of 45 companies randomly selected” from the about 6,500 companies that file with the SEC. | Average: $16.7 million | Average: -3.2% | Since 1997, the average total compensation for the highest-paid executive in the firms ERI samples has increased 162.3 percent. | |
| The Corporate Library Sept. 22, 2009 |
Survey covers over 2,700 publicly traded companies. “Total realized compensation” includes salary, bonus, and perks, plus gains from exercising stock options awarded in previous years and value of newly vesting shares of restricted stock. | Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone, $702.4 million. Sum reflects the vesting of $699.8 million of the shares that went to this private equity CEO in 2007 when his firm went public. | Average, top 10: $221.8 million | Median, all: -6.4% Average, all: +7.7% | Seven of the top 10 executives pulled in at least $100 million. Seven of the top 10 came out of the oil industry. Of the 2,000 CEOs on the job for all of 2008, “only six saw their pay actually cut.” |
Regional Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| Chicago Sun-Times April 15, 2009 |
Data, calculated by Chicago-based Buck Consultants LLC, covers 26 top executives at Chicagoland companies. Pay includes cash compensation and benefits that are paid to the CEO in the reported year and long-term equity compensation which is granted in that year. | Sanjay Jha, Motorola, $104.4 million | Executives with higher pay than previous year: 12. Lower: 7. New to position in 2008: 7. | Motorola “has announced layoffs of 7,000 people since late last year.” | |
| Dayton Business Journal May 1, 2009 |
$12.67 million | Average: +25% | All Dayton-area CEOs surveyed but one saw their total pay increase in 2008. | ||
| The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) May 10, 2009 |
Survey covers CEO pay at 50 major companies based in North Jersey. Pay includes 2008 gains from stock options awarded in previous years. | Ronald Hermance, Hudson City Bancorp, $37.5 million in option gains | Average: $688,303 | Average: +4.8% | Over half the execs surveyed took home over $1 million last year and five “topped the $10 million mark.” |
| Kansas City Star May 11, 2009 |
Survey covers CEO pay at 50 top KC-area firms. Pay figures track the reporting formats the SEC requires, producing totals that “include portions of compensation granted in prior years that are being allocated as an expense over several years.” | Daniel Hesse, Sprint Nextel, $19.2 million | Two-thirds of the executives in the Kansas City Star figures saw their pay increase in 2008 over the year before. | ||
| Minneapolis Star Tribune May 17, 2009 |
Survey covers Minnesota’s 100 top-paid CEOs. Total pay includes “gains from the exercise of previously issued stock options and restricted shares vesting during the year.” | Daniel Starks, St. Jude Medical Inc., $32.2 million |
Median: $938,385 | Median: -38.5% | Of Minnesota’s top 100 CEOs, 47 took home at least $1 million in 2008, compared with 60 in 2007, 58 in 2006 and a record 66 in 2005.” |
| St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 19, 2009 |
Survey covers 17 St. Louis area CEOs in office for last two years. | Hugh Grant, Monsanto, $15.6 million | Median: +5% | Only six of the 17 CEOs surveyed received lower pay last year than in 2007. | |
| Albany Times Union May 31, 2009 |
Survey covers compensation among the 12 highest-earning New York Capital area CEOs on the job in both 2007 and 2008. | Thomas D’Ambra Albany Molecular, $3.5 million |
+ less than 1% | The typical Capital region worker would have had to labor 79 years to earn what Albany Molecular’s Thomas D’Ambra collected last year. | |
| Tulsa World May 31, 2009 |
Survey covers 18 presidents and CEOs of publicly traded firms based in eastern Oklahoma. Pay includes salary, bonuses, and stock awards that vest in future years. | Steve Malcolm, Williams Cos. Inc., $8.9 million | Steve Malcolm of Williams Cos. Inc. saw his pay jump 10 percent despite a 60 percent drop in his company’s share price. | ||
| San Jose Mercury News June 5, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers pay for 145 chief executives heading Silicon Valley’s largest companies based on revenue, as compiled from proxy filings made by May 30. Pay does not include gains from the exercising of stock options. | Larry Ellison, Oracle, $84.6 million | Median: $2.2 million | Median: -5.6% | In 2008, Ellison, Silicon Valley’s highest-paid exec in 2008, also cleared $543.8 million exercising stock options awarded in previous years and saw his retirement account jump $12 million. |
| Des Moines Register June 7, 2009 |
Survey covers 108 executives at publicly traded companies based in Iowa. | Barry Griswell, Principal Financial Group, $7.5 million | Average: $1,044,706 | Average: -3.7% | Bonuses for Iowa’s 20 top CEOs fell in 2008, but their average salary increased 9.41 percent, to $529,760. |
| St. Paul Pioneer Press June 7, 2009 |
Survey covers CEO pay at Minnesota’s 50 largest publicly traded firms. Pay does not include gains from exercised stock options. | Gregg Steinhafel, Target, $13.5 million | Median: $3.2 million | Median: -1.3% percent | The typical CEO surveyed took home 66 times the $48,812 2008 pay of average Minnesota workers. |
| The Oklahoman June 7, 2009 |
Survey covers five highest-paid state CEOs. Pay does not include gains from exercised stock options. | Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy Corp., $112.5 million | Average: $32.2 million | McClendon’s compensation has so far “prompted four shareholder lawsuits.” | |
| Denver Post June 14, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by LogixData, covers 232 executives at Colorado’s 50 largest publicly traded companies. | Michael Fries, Liberty Global, $19.1 million | Average: $2.3 million | Average: +5.2% | At least 10 Colorado execs “reported pay increases of 50 percent or more despite declines in their company’s stock price of nearly half or more last year.” |
| Indianapolis Star June 14, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers 44 Indiana CEOs. Pay does not include gains from exercised stock options. | John Lechleiter, Eli Lilly and Co., $10.64 million | Average: $3.6 million | Average: -19.6% | Eli Lilly’s Lechleiter gained another $3.2 million from previously awarded stock. He now has $9.5 million in his pension account, plus $4.9 million in deferred pay. |
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 14, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by Equilar, covers pay of over 100 executives at Georgia’s 20 largest publicly traded firms. Pay does not includes gains from exercising stock options. | Neville Isdell, Coca-Cola Co., $23.1 million | Median: $1.88 million | Median: +3% | The overall pay increase for Georgia execs “came in a year when 13 of the 20 companies saw their net income fall, and 17 saw the price of their stock drop.” |
| Seattle Times June 21, 2009 |
Survey, by Equilar, covers 135 chief executives of publicly traded companies in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Total pay includes salary, bonus, new stock and option awards, and benefits and perks. | Mark Pigott, Paccar, $13.8 million | Median: $1.18 million | Median: -6% | Kerry Killinger, former CEO of the now-defunct Washington Mutual, took home $18.1 million in 2006 and $14.4 million in 2007. JPMorgan Chase, the current owner of WaMu, has not disclosed Killinger’s 2008 pay. |
| Crain’s Detroit Business June 21, 2009 |
Survey covers metro Detroit’s 50 top CEOs. Total pay does not include gains from exercising previously awarded options. | Median: $762,452 | Median: +2.6% | Twelve CEOs received cash bonuses, with a $147,000 median value, down 46 percent from 2007. | |
| Dallas Morning News June 22, 2009 |
Study, by Longnecker & Associates, covers executive pay at the 100 largest companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Total pay new stock or option awards, but not gains from previously awarded stock awards. | Keith Hutton, XTO Energy Inc., $29.7 million |
Median: +9.89% Average: +12.78% |
Average cash incentives for Dallas-Fort Worth executives in 2008 rose 35.45 percent. | |
| Philadelphia Business Journal June 26, 2009 |
Survey, conducted by Strategic Research Solutions, covers 100 top CEOs of publicly traded companies in the Philadelphia area. Not covered: gains realized from the exercise of stock option awards. | Robert Toll, Toll Brothers Inc., $48.2 million |
Average: $3.56 million | Average: -2.2% | Toll Brothers, a top U.S. homebuilders, lost $298 million in 2008. A dozen Philly CEOs “took bonuses despite their company losing money last year.” |
| Business Courier of Cincinnati June 26, 2009 |
Survey covers 38 CEOs of publicly traded companies in the Greater Concinnati area. Not covered: gains realized from the exercise of stock option awards. | A.G. Lafley, Procter & Gamble Co., $23.5 million |
Median: $1.5 million | Median: -8% | Twenty-one of Cincinnati’s CEOs lost pay in 2008. Median shareholder return among the local 38 dropped 29 percent. |
| Arizona Republic June 28, 2009 |
Survey covers 45 CEOs of publicly traded companies in Arizona. | Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoRan, $53.8 million |
Median: $985,000 | Median: 13.4% | The Republic attributes the median rise to the loss of nine lower-paying firms in 2008. Omitting the nine, pay dropped 8 percent. Still, 20 Arizona top execs took in at least $2 million last year, the same as in 2007. |
| Houston Chronicle July 25, 2009 |
Survey, by Longnecker & Associates, covers 639 executives at 125 publicly traded Houston-area companies with 2008 revenues over $285 million. Pay does not include gains from exercising previously granted vstock options. | Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries, $59.8 million | Average for 100 highest-paid executives, $5.7 million |
Average for 100 highest-paid executives, +0.5% |
The top five executives in the survey, all from the energy industry, together took home $173.3 million. |
| Baltimore Sun August 9, 2009 |
Survey covers the 20 firms in metro Baltimore that paid their CEOs at least $1 million. Pay includes the value of new stock grants but not gains realized from exercising options awarded in previous years. | Mayo A. Shattuck III, Constellation Energy, $15.7 million | Seventeen of the 20 execs saw increases in their compensation in 2008, a year that 17 of these 20 saw their share price fall and half saw losses or falling profits. | ||
| Birmingham News August 9, 2009 |
Survey covers 20 leading publicly traded companies based in Alabama. Pay includes only salary, bonuses, and perks. | Jay Grinney, HealthSouth, $2.4 million in cash, bonus, and perks (but $6.6 million, including stock awards) | Average: $1.05 million | Average: -10% | Just four of the 20 Alabama companies surveyed “managed a positive shareholder return during the period.” |
| Washington Business Journal August 20, 2009 |
Survey covers CEOs of publicly traded companies in the D.C. area. Pay includes salary, bonus, perks, and new stock and stock option awards, but not gains from stock awards received in previous years. | Robert Stevens, Lockheed Martin, $26.52 million | Average, top 10: $14.04 million | The top two D.C.-area CEO paychecks went to defense contracting giants. General Dynamics CEO Nicholas Chabraja, number two, took home $21.9 million. | |
| Portland Business Journal August 21, 2009 |
Survey covers execs of publicly traded companies based in Oregon. Pay includes “salary, bonuses, miscellaneous compensation, and the value realized from exercising stock options and grants.” | Earl Lewis, CEO, Flir Systems Inc., $30.5 million |
Average, 20 highest-paid execs: $6.7 million | Average, 20 highest-paid execs: -13% | In 2008, 40 Oregon executives took home over $1 million in compensation. |
| Charlotte Observer Sept. 21, 2009 |
Survey covers 50 top Carolina companies. Pay includes “base salary, bonuses, the value of stock awards, profits from exercising stock options,” and perks. | Martin Orlowsky, Lorillard Inc., $15 million | Median: $2.9 million | Median: +3% | The overall Carolina average weekly CEO pay in 2008 , $70,445, nearly doubled the Carolina worker average annual wage. |
Economic Sector Pay Reports |
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| Source | Methodology | Top Pay | Median/Avg | Increase | Worth Noting |
| Alpha March 25, 2009 |
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.” | James Simons, Renaissance Technologies,$2.5 billion | Average, top 25: $464 million . |
Average, top 25: down 48% |
In 2008, 25 hedge fund managers made at least $75 million. In 2002, the first year the trade journal Alpha started tracking hedge fund earnings, hedge fund managers needed $30 million to make the top 25. |
| Equilar May 4, 2009 |
Survey covers the pay of chief financial officers at over 300 Fortune 500 firms. Pay includes salary, bonuses, stock and stock options awarded in 2008, perks. | Median: $2.7 million | Median: -4.0% |
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