Highest-Paid CEOs For 2008: AP's Top 10 List

The 10 highest-paid CEOs for 2008 at Standard & Poor's 500 companies based on calculations by The Associated Press. The analysis includes companies that filed proxy statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission between Jan. 1 and April 20. The total pay figures are rounded and are based on the AP's compensation formula, which adds up salary, perks, bonuses, preferential interest rates on pay set aside for later, and company estimates for the value of stock options and stock awards on the day they were granted last year.

1. Aubrey McClendon, Chesapeake Energy Corp., $112.5 million

2. Sanjay Jha, Motorola Inc., $104.4 million

3. Robert Iger, Walt Disney Co., $51.1 million

4. Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., $42.9 million

5. Kenneth Chenault, American Express Co., $42.9 million

6. Vikram Pandit, Citigroup Inc., $38.2 million

7. Steven Farris, Apache Corp., $37.2 million

8. Louis Camilleri, Philip Morris International Inc., $36.9 million

9. Kevin Johnson, Juniper Networks Inc., $36.1 million

10. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co., $35.7 million

Comments

[CarlKolchak]

Lets be fair here. If we are going after CEO's who some of them by the way, try to make other investors money(shame on them) then lets also mention- overpaid Celebrities, Sports figures and last but not least Government officials who jet set around the country polluting the skys :) .

[Terri Stewart]

THE MONEY WILL RUN OUT ONE DAY

[LiberalForever]

The off shore shell companies allowed them to keep it all too. No sense in paying any taxes at all when you can stash the bucks in the Caymans. Lovely tax code we have. Just lovely.

[whydodemshate]

Shamey Shamey Shamey Robin Obama is going to get you guys.

[VerticalText]

Let it be known. If you make money in this country you are to be targeted by the Obama Administration. Your name will be ridiculed in lists on left-leaning blogs, and the president will ruin your good name as he did in the case of Chrysler investors.

Woe to thee who make money and fail to support this administration!

[dennissinned]

Crocodile tears for your heroes.

[VerticalText]

Why don't we create a list of highest paid liberals by kickbacks from Democratic lawmakers. We can start with Feinstein's husband and Murtha's nephew.

[Lavafalls]

Why not take down ALL lawmakers taking kickbacks. Why do you just want to make this a left right thing when it should be a legal issue? It's OK for Republicans to take kickbacks according to you. You really are nothing more than an instigator.

I don't see where it lists these CEO's political affiliation.

[SteveDenver]

It seems VerticalText has made the assumption that the highest paid CEOs are Republican and that Democrats aren't willing to admit that their party needs cleaning too. Please don't project your denial and refusal on us.

[chazmanr]

Haliburton, KBR...Ring any bells?

[rogerthornhill1959]

How dare these capital ist swi ne get to keep this money. It should be confiscated by the Government so Obama can have more money to save the world.

[Greywolf Borealis]

That's obscene.

[rogerthornhill1959]

Jealous?

[dennissinned]

No, you are 'cause they're making lots of money and here you are just posting comments. lmao

[SteveDenver]

Yes. But I'm one of those fools who doesn't understand how anyone is worth this kind of money. I know about the entitlement mentality, but I can't wrap my head around it.

[yuenzzzz]

This is a really great top ten list, it shows how absolutely greedy corporate America still is. How you can you justify those salaries, I mean nobody can bring that kind of value to any company. And the multiple between the pay of a CEO and the lowest paid employee is despicable. Anyone can post their own list to our site http://www.toptentopten.com/. The coolest feature is you can let other people vote on the rankings of your list.

[SteveDenver]

When you look at the chasm between CEO compensation and the lowest paid employees, it mirrors the national financial picture. The leap between average household earnings and CEO financial elites has never been wider. Even the middle class no longer provides a stair step from working class to CEO.

Republicans keep selling "trickle down" economics. Seems as if the clouds are full enough for a downpour. Support estate ("death") taxes, so some of this moves back into the world once the earner is dead. Support dismantling tax havens. Support FAIR taxation of top earners.

After all, these bloated salaries have been largely propped up by bailout money and tax dodges.

[jamhop68]

NAME ME ONE SUCCESSFUL SOCIALIST COUNTRY INTHE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE WORLD? I DIDN'T THINK SO.

[rmcreates]

This is really more a statement to all of us who are not on this list. We sit back, distracted spewing off comments on blogs being complacent, not knowing what to do but argue among each other and writing stupid nonsense. Get up man, stand up for your rights!! Maybe the change we thought was coming is quite differnet than what we hoped!!!

[Davwbaird]

i understand the bank CEO's have a large number of body guards.

[Jenny Clagett]

This is really disgusting. These guys don't OWN these companies. The shareholders OWN the companies. Are the employees pensions 100% funded? The CEO's salaries should be turned into dividends for the shareholders. There is no CEO out there who is not replaceable. Their salaries and total compensation needs to be drastically limited to no more than $1 million a year.

[jamhop68]

HOW MUCH DO ACTORS AND SPORTS STARS MAKE? YET WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE!!!

[CitizenFarmer]

Look at all those Methodists on the list.

[maxfax]

Right, sure, Methodists, lol.

[granada]

...not exactly on topic, but I have a cousin named Vikram. Alas, he is about 17, cannot speak English fluently, and is hardly a CEO.

[LynnW49]

But he could play one on Wall Street. Apparently the job requires no actual CEO competence.

[SteveDenver]

LynnW49: Thanks for the laugh, it helps break the tension.

[Joethepauper]

Aubrey McClendon makes $308,219.17 per day whether he even leaves his house or not. That's over $38,000.00 PER HOUR (for 8 hours of work)! I hope my math is wrong, but I just divided $112.5 M by 365 and divided the result by 8. I thought the average Fortune 100 CEO making over $8,000.00 per hour was bad.......This is much worse. I hope Aubrey McClendon is funding cancer research on the side or something at least. WTF??! Can someone explain why the working poor can't get an extra buck an hour, but some guy is making $38,000.00 per hour? If I made an extra $40.00 per week, I could afford to buy more things these companies sell. It should benefit them more by paying people more, because those making more would buy more of their s#!t.

These are the type of people who benefitted from the Bush tax cuts. People making over $38,000.00 per hour. I don't mind Bill Gates or Warren Buffet as much because they give back.

[Davwbaird]

deduct as cost of business

[shimari]

Yes, he's making lots of money but consider this -- the man's name is AUBREY!

I feel for him. At least his parents could have called him Maturin instead.

[chazmanr]

Almost 100 years ago Henry Ford (love him or hate him) realized that paying his employees well would create a market for the product they were building. He was largely responsible for creating the middle class in the US as a result.