Ceo, Executive Pay | featured news

Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook's 2012 compensation package of just over $4 million is a huge cut on paper for the top executive of the most valuable U.S. corporation, after a 2011 package fattened by more than $376 million in long-term stock awards.

Joseph Saunders, who stepped down last month as CEO of Visa, received a $9.7 million pay package for fiscal 2012.

New York Times new Chief Executive Mark Thompson will receive an annual base salary of $1 million and is eligible for sign-on incentive awards valued at $3 million in company stock and stock options.

Shifting from Google's CEO to executive chairman proved to be lucrative career move for Eric Schmidt....

Shareholders of Citigroup rejected a board-approved pay package for CEO Vikram Pandit and other top executives, sending a loud and clear message that executive compensation needs to be tied to performance, or else.

For perspective, Moonves' increase is far less than the 40% rise in CBS' stock in 2011. Still, the CEO's $69.9M package makes him by far the highest paid media CEO for the year among companies that have already filed their annual proxy statements. Here's how Moonves' compensation adds up: $3.5M salary, $27.5M bonus, $8.5M in stock awards, nearly $27.3M in option awards, $1.5M change in pension value, and $1.6M in other compensation.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos received $1.68 million in total compensation for 2011, the same as in the prior year.

Sears CEO Louis D'Ambrosio received a compensation package valued at $9.9 million last year, most of it in stock awards.

Even as his company weathers its biggest crisis ever, Rupert Murdoch is still pulling in a huge salary from News Corp.Regulatory filings released on Friday showed that Murdoch's total compensation for the 2011 fiscal year was $33.3 million. As technology writer Peter Kafka noted, this included a $12.5 million bonus. Murdoch also received $8.5 million in stock.

Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid U.S. CEOs earned more last year than their companies paid in federal income tax, a pay study said on Wednesday.