By Morgan Winsor -
Ever wonder how much the top dogs make in corporate America these days? A new report released Thursday from As You Sow, a California-based non-profit foundation that promotes corporate accountability, revealed the 100 most overpaid CEOs at S&P 500 companies and that their pay has skyrocketed.
The report found CEO pay grew nearly 1,000% in the past four decades, which surpasses growth in median worker pay or company shares. Nabors Industries, Oracle, Freeport McMoran and CBS were some of the worst offenders with a wide gulf between their huge executive pay packages and relatively weak shareholder returns, the report said.
“Excessive and poorly structured CEO pay packages don’t just take money from shareholders and pose a risk for the destruction of shareholder value, they also prevent corporations from paying decent wages to their employees,” said Rosanna Landis Weaver, report author and manager of As You Sow's Executive Compensation Program. “Most CEOs have come to be grossly overpaid, and that overpayment is harmful to the companies, the shareholders, the customers, the other employees, the economy, and society as a whole.”
The report, “The 100 Most Overpaid CEOs: Executive Compensation at S&P 500 Companies,” was calculated by combining As You Sow's indicator analysis with a regression analysis by HIP Investor, which rates companies and municipal bonds on their impact on society. In the case when companies tied, the one with the higher total disclosed compensation was ranked lower. Click here to download the full report. Here’s a list of the top 1o most overpaid CEOs:
1. Anthony G. Petrello -- Nabors Industries Ltd. -- $68,246,187
2. Lawrence J. Ellison -- Oracle Corporation -- $78,440,657
3. Richard C. Adkerson -- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. -- $55,260,539
4. Leslie Moonves -- CBS Corporation -- $66,932,581
5. David M. Zaslav -- Discovery Communications, Inc. -- $33, 349, 798
6. Robert A. Iger -- The Walt Disney Company -- $34,321,055
7. Larry J. Merlo -- CVS Caremark Corporation -- $31,330,162
8. Philippe P. Dauman -- Viacom, Inc. -- $37,186,099
9. Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D. -- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. -- $36, 272,665
10. John H. Hammergren -- McKesson Corporation -- $25,919,882