It’s been a very good decade for some of Silicon Valley’s CEOs, according to a Wall Street Journal survey released Monday of the 25 best-paid American executives of public companies.
Oracle’s Larry Ellison was first on the list, topping everyone with $1.84 billion in various forms of compensation — almost all of it gains on the value of stock options.
Steve Jobs placed fourth with $749 million — nothing to be sneezed at, unless your name is Larry Ellison. Jobs gets a salary of $1 a year at Apple — his real pay is in restricted stock, bonuses and other forms of compensation.
Placing eighth was Terry Semel, the former Yahoo chief who came to the company from Hollywood but resigned under pressure from shareholders in 2007. Semel racked up $489.6 million while he labored to keep Yahoo No. 1 until an upstart named Google overtook it. His compensation was mostly in the form of gains on stock options.
Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers was 17th out of 25, with a decade’s compensation worth $393.2 million, according to the Journal’s survey. Much of that was gains on stock options.
The Journal also measured the 25 in terms of shareholder bang for the buck.
The investor who bought $100 worth of stock in Apple at the beginning of the decade and held on to it now has an investment with a market value of $1,171. A similar investment in Oracle stock would be worth $316.
The $100 invested in Yahoo could be cashed in today for $278, and Cisco for $70.
The Journal’s data was compiled by University of Southern California business professor Kevin Murphy, based on filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact Pete Carey at 408-920-5419.
