One word: GREED.
In collaboration with James F. Reda and Associates, ABC News compiled a nice list showing some of the companies in the headlines today and looked at just how much money some of their respective CEO's are taking home.
CEO Cash Salary Stock, Other Pay Total Pay
Lehman Brothers
2007 Richard Fuld $5,000,000 $66,770,000 $71,770,000
2006 Richard Fuld $7,000,000 $55,323,679 $62,323,679
2005 Richard Fuld $14,500,000 $89,500,000 $104,000,000
2004 Richard Fuld $11,000,000 $24,300,000 $35,300,000
Morgan Stanley
2007 John Mack $800,000 $16,431,500 $17,231,500
2006 John Mack $800,000 $6,321,000 $7,121,000
2005 John Mack $337,534 $30,000,000 $30,337,534
Goldman Sachs
2007 Lloyd Blankfein $27,600,000 $15,500,000 $43,100,000
2006 Lloyd Blankfein $27,800,000 $15,700,000 $43,500,000
2006 Henry Paulson $129,087,000 $34,900,000 $163,987,000
2005 Henry Paulson $600,000 $3,363,422 $3,963,422
2004 Henry Paulson $600,000 $11,660,000 $12,260,000
Bear Stearns
2006 James Cayne $17,300,000 $14,800,000 $32,100,000
2005 James Cayne $12,900,000 $10,300,000 $23,200,000
2004 James Cayne $10,200,000 $9,500,000 $19,700,000
Merrill Lynch
2007 John Thain $15,800,000 $0 $15,800,000
2007 E. Stanley O'Neal $584,000 $161,000,000 $161,584,000
2006 E. Stanley O'Neal $19,200,000 $45,116,327 $64,316,327
2005 E. Stanley O'Neal $14,800,000 $3,120,000 $17,920,000
2004 E. Stanley O'Neal $700,000 $16,766,448 $17,466,448
Washington Mutual
2007 Kerry K. Killinger $1,000,000 $3,468,625 $4,468,625
2006 Kerry K. Killinger $5,100,000 $17,153,715 $22,253,715
2005 Kerry K. Killinger $4,600,000 $8,876,608 $13,476,608
2004 Kerry K. Killinger $2,900,000 $12,335,416 $15,235,416
AIG
2007 Martin J. Sullivan $10,200,000 $5,647,439 $15,847,439
2006 Martin J. Sullivan $16,900,000 $5,838,656 $22,738,656
2005 Martin J. Sullivan $7,750,000 $159,000 $7,909,000
2004 Hank Greenberg $1,400,000 $12,002,880 $13,402,880
Fannie Mae
2007 Daniel Mudd $3,200,000 $5,200,000 $8,400,000
2006 Daniel Mudd $4,400,000 $2,290,000 $6,690,000
Freddie Mac
2007 Richard Syron $5,590,000 $0 $5,590,000
2006 Richard Syron $5,150,000 $0 $5,150,000
Now, here is a list of the highest paid CEOs:
Rank Name Company Pay ($mil)
1 Lawrence J Ellison Oracle 192.92
2 Frederic M Poses Trane 127.10
3 Aubrey K McClendon Chesapeake Energy 116.89
4 Angelo R Mozilo Countrywide Financial 102.84
5 Howard D Schultz Starbucks 98.60
6 Nabeel Gareeb MEMC Electronic Mats 79.56
7 Daniel P Amos Aflac 75.16
8 Lloyd C Blankfein Goldman Sachs Group 73.72
9 Richard D Fairbank Capital One Financial 73.17
10 Bob R Simpson XTO Energy 72.27
11 Richard S Fuld Jr Lehman Bros Holdings 71.90
12 Steven Roth Vornado Realty 71.85
13 Marijn E Dekkers Thermo Fisher 69.00
14 Steven A Burd Safeway 67.17
15 Gregg L Engles Dean Foods 66.08
16 Nicholas D Chabraja General Dynamics 60.26
17 Leslie H Wexner Limited Brands 56.06
18 David C Novak Yum Brands 54.91
19 John T Chambers Cisco Systems 54.77
20 William R Berkley WR Berkley 54.60
Now here are the relevant facts:
According to Payscale.com:
In 1970, CEO salary and bonus packages were typically about $700,000 - 25 times the average production worker salary; by 2000, CEO salaries had jumped to almost $2.2 million on average, 90 times the average salary of a worker, according to a 2004 study on CEO pay by Kevin J. Murphy and Jan Zabojnik. Toss in stock options and other benefits, and the salary of a CEO is nearly 500 times the average worker salary, the study says.
Dan Moynihan, principal of Compensation Resources, and expert in CEO salaries, theorizes that the shorter tenures of CEOs today than in years past could be one factor inflating the average salary of a CEO and widening the salary gap.
"I think there's a capitalistic model that says 'get as much as you can while it lasts because you don't know how long it'll last,'" he says. "I don't think CEOs are doing more or less than they were 20 years ago and I don't think line workers are either. Should [the salary gap] be rectified? Yes. Will it be? Probably not."