Typical CEO made $9.6M last year, AP study finds

[hue]

Source: finance.yahoo.com/news (AP)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs.

The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.
That was up more than 6 percent from the previous year, and is the second year in a row of increases. The figure is also the highest since the AP began tracking executive compensation in 2006.

Companies trimmed cash bonuses but handed out more in stock awards. For shareholder activists who have long decried CEO pay as exorbitant, that was a victory of sorts.

That's because the stock awards are being tied more often to company performance. In those instances, CEOs can't cash in the shares right away: They have to meet goals first, like boosting profit to a certain level.

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/typical-ceo-made-9-6m-100244495.html

[limpyhobbler]

1. I feel like that's not fair. nt

[pscot]

2. It would take 480 years

to earn that working at Walmart. Seems fair to me.

[YBR31]

3. Don't confuse big companies with small

My husband's salary as CEO of a small company is $250,000. It's a very good living, better than most but isn't in the stratosphere.

[dmosh42]

4. In the largest corp., the CEO sets it up with the board for him to get an exorbitant amount....

for no reason. Most have nothing creative to offer, except how to extract the cash! We used to call them crooks, but now they're celebrities mostly in Republican circles. I retiredfrom Verizon years ago, and the last useless CEO was paid about 7-8m, and nobody knew what he did. His secretary could have done the job for a lot less. Now there's a new guy who wants 23m before his first year is up! No more valuable than a sack of rocks!

[sarcasmo]

5. GREED!

I wonder what the Bain capital CEO takes home.