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Thursday, December 04, 2008
Selena Maranjian :: Townhall.com Columnist
A Modest Proposal to Reduce CEO Pay
by Selena Maranjian
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Earlier this year, I read an interesting report from our friends at the Corporate Library. It seems that in 2007, CEO compensation rose by a median rate of nearly 16% among S&P 500 companies, compared with just 2% at smaller firms. That seems fair, right? After all, the leaders at big companies typically aren't paid too highly.

OK, you can stop laughing now. It was a joke. Just check out how much these CEOs have gotten paid lately:

Company

CEO

Annual Total Compensation

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL)

Larry Ellison

$193 million

Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK)

Aubrey McClendon

$117 million

Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX)

Howard Schultz

$99 million

MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE: WFR)

Nabeel Gareeb

$80 million

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)

Lloyd Blankfein

$74 million

Limited Brands (NYSE: LTD)

Leslie Wexner

$56 million Continued...
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About The Author

Selena Maranjian prepares the Fool's syndicated newspaper column, writes articles for Fool.com, has coordinated the Fool's annual Foolanthropy charity drive, and has written a number of Fool books, among other things.

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(2 comments so Far)
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Reply # 1
Date: Dec 5, 2008 - 12:49 PM EST
Me too
I heartily agree with Phanerosis, and add these:

(1) A big company today is way way bigger than a big company 50 years ago.

(2) If I'm invested in a big company and expecting a return, I don't want the guy steering the ship to be just any old guy, and especially not the low bidder. Gimme a rock star for this job every time - someone who can lead and influence.

(3) It is immensely important that the company does better than its peers or the market. You cannot just blow that off.

(4) How many of the American auto makers have rock-star CEO's that are officially working (or will work) for $1/year?
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Reply # 2
Date: Dec 4, 2008 - 11:39 AM EST
Here's a better idea
Start with the small things. Let's have a Dutch auction to see how little compensation someone will be willing to accept to do YOUR job. You have NO idea what their job entails, and those big numbers bug you because you can't imagine anyone's work being worth that much. There are people in this world living on the equivalent of $20 a year who can't imagine anyone's work being worth what you earn, too, so let's open up the market and see who might be willing to do your job for $1 a day or less. Do you think they'd be qualified?

Exactly.
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