On Monday, BizSense reported that pay for many local CEOs rose in 2010, even at companies that lost money. That got us wondering: Are CEOs of publicly traded companies worth their pay?
Tell us what you think. Are the company’s shareholders using their money wisely by paying CEOs fat salaries? Or are most CEOs interchangeable, and these companies so massive and so layered with management that they run themselves, making executives little more than figureheads?
Please weigh in below.
On Monday, BizSense reported that pay for many local CEOs rose in 2010, even at companies that lost money. That got us wondering: Are CEOs of publicly traded companies worth their pay?
Tell us what you think. Are the company’s shareholders using their money wisely by paying CEOs fat salaries? Or are most CEOs interchangeable, and these companies so massive and so layered with management that they run themselves, making executives little more than figureheads?
Please weigh in below.
There seem to be two strategies for how CEOs approach their jobs. One is to build a great company in hopes that they may benefit personally from their company’s success. The other is to manage the company so that they benefit personally. (Why did Warren Buffett make just half a million in 2009? Is he less successful that the people in this list?) The trends in CEO compensation are both symptoms of and contributors to an unhealthy, unsuccessful America. It’s a shame that so many of our most talented business leaders are using their companies to get rich instead of… Read more »
I’ll answer your question with another question…would you want their job? Looking at the $$ figures above, it’s easy to say yes but I would doubt the majority of people out there could actually handle it. For what it’s worth, I’m not a CEO and far from it; although I certainly aspire to be. That said, I think more CEO’s should be paid based on performance to include profitability of the company. I would imagine most of the CEO’s listed above do have at least a portion of their pay based on performance but performance can be defined in many… Read more »
Interesting stuff…..I’ve always found the salaries of CEOs such as listed above as borderline criminal….I’m still feeling that way….
There is so much that can go into a CEO’s total pay that most people have no clue what the CEO’s “salary” is. A CEO can make twice as much one year over the next because they have deferred compensation kicking in that the company is legally obligated to pay. They can benefit from a pre-determined stock purchase or sale. They can receive a contract-mandated cash bonus. A company can lose money for a zillion reasons, 75% of which the company cannot control. Does that mean the CEO is bad? And their job responsibilities are so massive that most people… Read more »
It’s kind of like a quarterback in football. They are usually given to much credit when they win and to much blame when they loss. And look at quarterbacks salaries today, the top ones make more per year than most these CEO. My first cousin is a CEO of a $38B a year company and his base is about $1M and with bonuses it totals $9.75M per year. The total annual revenues for the NFL is $2B. I think some CEO are overpaid, just as some workers are overpaid for the job they do. A union bus driver making $150k… Read more »
The real question is what happened to Boards of Directors???? How have they been so corrupted? Clearly, if they truly had the owner’s interest at heart, they would put a kabbash on such ridiculous outlays. Yet, alarmingly and shockingly, these Boards actually advise shareholders in proxy voting to vote to allow even more executive pay. Shareholders would clearly be better off if each of the above named individuals received only 20% of their pay, with the other 80% being reinvested in the company or distributed as dividends. I am a firm believer in capitalism and free markets – and that… Read more »
I think the Board of Directors needs to do their job, which is communicating with the CEO”s and approve all activities of the company. Their job is to keep management on the right course and the company making good business decisions.
As a former employee of a company that made mistakes, as all companies do, the Board of Directors should keep the CEO’s feet to the fire.
I understand that CEO’s have tremendous responsibility, however that also means they have tremendous accountability.