Top 10 Highest Paid CEOs
Who is the highest paid CEO of 2008? Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group (BX) made a staggering $702 million last year. $700 million worth was in stock options which is only 25% of his total $4.7 Billion equity grant from the company’s 2007 IPO. With 75% more due for the next three years Stephen will be one CEO definitely not be leaving this list anytime soon.
7 out of 10 of the highest paid CEOs in 2008 were in the Energy Sector. Unfortunately oil peaked in 2008 and as we all know has since fallen back into a deep well (no pun intended) that will be very hard to get out of. Oil peaked above $140 a barrel and now trades for under $70.
And as far as stock price declines goes the worst is Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). Since peaking at $82.06 in early 2008 the stock hit a low of $13.66 before the end of 2008., a decline of 83%. Abercrombie today is trading at about $32. CEO Michael Jeffries was still paid nearly $72 million last year.
2008 Highest Paid CEOs
(Name, Company, Compensation. Source: The Corporate Library)
- Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone Group (BX), $702,440,573
- Lawrence Ellison, Oracle Corp. (ORCL), $556,976,600
- Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY), $222,639,705
- John Hess, Hess Corp. (HES), $159,566,940
- Michael Watford, Ultra Petroleum Corp. (UPL), $116,929,392
- Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), $114,286,867
- Bob Simpson, XTO Energy Inc. (XTO), $103,485,972
- Mark Papa, EOG Resources Inc. (EOG), $90,471,784
- Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR), $79,333,079
- Michael Jeffries, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), $71,795,744
Averaging the top 10 CEOs income together and you have a median CEO pay of $221,792,665.60. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that this recession has not affected the above individuals.
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