It’s no surprise that the Fat Cats atop the corporate ladder are lavishly over-compensated these days. Just look at State Street bank, where they dished out $67 million to their top six executives last year.
But an article caught our attention this week: MSN Money reported that CEO pay rose 24% last year as corporate profits soared. Yet unemployment remained sky high and those lucky enough to have jobs saw few salary increases, if any.
The article puts some of these outrageous salary figures into clear perspective. For example:
- Viacom CEO Phillipe Dauman made $84.5 million last year. That’s 1,990 times what the typical Viacom worker got.
- Drug company McKesson CEO John Hammergren was paid $54.4 million last year. That means that his earnings in a single day are almost three times what a medical scientist earns in a full year.
- Oracle CEO Larry Ellison made $70 million last year. That equates to $1.35 million per week, which would take a computer software engineer more than 14 years to earn.
…and these numbers cover only a few of the top companies. Imagine what the rest of the Fortune 500 looks like!
One thing is clear — for corporate ‘Fat Cats’ the recession is certainly over. But does it feel that way to you? We want your feedback!