CEOs Who Laid Off the Most People Made the Most Money

David Simon's 2011 pay package worth more than $137M

(NEWSER) - You might want to wait to read this until you're somewhere it's OK to scream: It would take the average American worker 3,489 years to make as much money as one top CEO took home in just one year. David Simon of shopping mall developer Simon Property snagged a pay package last year worth more than $137 million (mostly in stock awards that could eventually be worth $132 million), and the AP offers up some comparisons to illustrate just how crazy that really is: More»

How nice? Their compensation jumped 27% to 40%

(NEWSER) - Today, in Depressing Coincidences in Journalism, we're greeted with the news that nearly 50% of Americans are living below the poverty level or very close to it—and the news that America's top CEOs saw their 2010 pay jump a crazy 27% to 40%. The latter revelation comes via the Guardian , which reports on an exclusive review of data released by GMI Ratings, in a survey of 2,647 US companies. Among its findings: More»

He'll make at least $23.2 million; had been earning $1

(NEWSER) - Vikram Pandit isn’t the lowest-paid guy on Wall Street anymore. Citigroup has rewarded its CEO, who has worked for a token $1 salary for the past two years, with a massive retention package. If the company hits its estimated performance, Pandit will make $23.2 million in stock and cash. But if it hits the loftier numbers analysts are expecting, that windfall will balloon to $42 million, Bloomberg reports. More»

Average S&P company doling out $9M

(NEWSER) - Did you know there was some kind of recession recently? You wouldn't, if you looked at CEO paychecks. CEOs were paid more last year than they were in 2007, when unemployment was at half what it is now and the stock market was at record highs, the AP reports. S&P 500 CEOs took home a median of $9 million, a 24% increase over 2009. Revenue, meanwhile, grew about 12%. More»

Liberty Media boss Gregory Maffei rakes in $87.1M

(NEWSER) - Last year was a tough one—but the nation’s top-earning CEOs had little to complain about when it came to pay. The Wall Street Journal lists the bosses with the highest direct compensation at companies whose annual revenue broke $4 billion for the year ending Sept. 30, 2010:

1. Gregory Maffei, Liberty Media, $87.1 million
2. Lawrence Ellison, Oracle, $68.6 million
3. Ray Irani, Occidental Petroleum, $52.2 million
4. Carol Bartz, Yahoo, $44.6 million