The 5 Highest Over Paid CEOs

The Top Five Most Over Paid CEOs Last Year

This hub is about the most highly OVER paid CEOs, not the most highly PAID CEOs. We all know that many CEOs are paid obscene amounts of money while large parts of the population have to make do with very low salaries, minimum wages or no wage at all, thanks in large part to the incompetence and greed of CEOs who insist on paying themselves tens of millions of dollars each year. Anybody would think the company was just there to make them rich.

There are some CEOs however whose competence is truly questionable and yet who still manage to take home over $30 million each year. That's $2.5 million every month, $125,000 every working day, over $15,000 an hour or around $1,300 in the time it will take you to read through this hub. That is truly obscene in my opinion and all this for being not very good at their job ! Except of course that they are very good at filling their own pockets with money.

How do CEOs qualify for the accolade of being the "Highest Paid Worst Performers" ?
The research firm the Corporate Library reviewed companies' regulatory filings and worked out who were the five worst CEOs. To get on the list, a chief executive had to earn in total (salary + bonuses + stock) at least $30 million last year and the share price of the company in question had to have underperformed rivals and stocks in the S&P 500 over the last 5 years.

So, enough of this facinating intro. who are the five stars?

No. 1 Michael Jeffries from Abercrombie and Fitch who received $71.8 million last year, this included a "stay bonus" of $6 million so that he wouldn't leave, despite his poor performance and despite his 17-year tenure.

Jeffries'compensation committee like him so much that they ensure that he is paid more than what 75% of his rival CEOs are paid.

No. 2 James Stewart, BJ Services   comes in way below Jeffries at a mere $34.6 million - $30 million of which came from stock options. Stewart was granted the options over 5 years ago, so they were still valuable in spite of the halving of the company's stock in 2008.

Shares of BJ Services have underperformed its peers over a 5-year period.

No. 3 Brian Roberts Comcast Corp. Comcast's stock has performed well over the last year, but the company has lagged the industry over the years. Roberts received total pay of $40.8 million in 2008 ($2.7 million salary + over $22 million in earnings related to stock options).

No. 4 John Faraci International Paper - Shares in International Paper fell 63% last year, the S&P 500 fell 38%. Despite this Faraci was paid $38.2 million, which included $21 million in pension payments while still working at the company. International Paper issued a saying that Faraci's total compensation was $13 million and the Corporate Library "mistakenly included" the pension payments.

No. 5 Eugene Isenberg, Nabors Industries was paid a total of $79.3 million, i.e. No. 8 on the list of 10 highest paid CEOs. In 2008, shares in Nabors slumped 51%, though the company's shares have outperformed rivals over the last 12 months.

Most of Isenberg's pay came from a $58.7 million bonus, calculated based on a percentage of cash flow. Over the years, this has meant $625 million in "aggregate bonuses" for Isenberg.

A spokesman for Nabors said Isenberg renegotiated his contract recently and his bonus formula is now based less on company cash flow.

So there you have the secret for getting really rich, make sure you get to the top, people at the bottom can fend for themselves - it's known as "economic Darwinism" and you are part of it whether you like it or not.