Median CEO Pay Jumped 27% in 2010

According to the USA Today, the CEOs of America's top publicly traded companies had very good years in 2010.

According to the paper, median CEO pay jumped 27% last year to $9.0 million, "based on 158 Standard + Poor's 500 index companies with the same CEO serving all of 2009 and 2010 that have reported CEO pay".

Thanks to the financial crisis of 2008 and the recession that followed, many CEOs were forced to accept pay cuts for both practical and cosmetic reasons.

In 2010, as many leading companies continued to turn in strong performances, CEO pay rebounded sharply. According to the USA Today, median CEO pay at the S+P 500 companies mentioned above surged from $7.1 million to $9.0 million in 2010.

Median bonus numbers were up 47% to $2.2 million, while there was also a "healthy 7% boost to the median salary" as well.

The shares of many S+P 500 companies continued to surge last year, which resulted in the median value of stock and options awards posting a 32% increase ($5.6 million).

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The USA Today also pointed out that private industry workers saw their compensation grow by just 2.1% in the 12 months ending December 2010.

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With the S+P 500 having posted a 40% gain over the last few years, and with many companies reporting very strong profits, rising CEO compensation at the nation's leading companies can hardly be a surprise.

Source: USAToday.com - CEO Pay Soars While Workers' Pay Stalls

Filed under: General Knowledge