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CEO Pay @ Fortune 500 companies, DJIA Investing: Economy Stock Market Finance?

I read that CEO/Chairman positions at most Fortune 500 companies only make 600K - 1 Million in salary, but with stock options included their annual income is usually about $30 million - $60 million. What other "benefits" and supplementary income account for the huge bonuses? Also, are the stock options offered only for the company that the CEO works for?

Public Comments

1. Besides their salary, CEOs usually get stock options that are much more favorable than are available to other employees. That means the stock can go down quite a bit and the CEO can still make money with the options. Stock options are typically for the company the CEO or director works for, not another company. Also, bonus compensation is often not tied directly to stock performance, so the CEO gets a big bonus even when the stock declines. There are usually many, many "perks" including use of a private jet, memberships to country clubs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the OK to throw lavish parties with little oversight of expenses (often these company-sponsored parties costing tens of thousands of dollars coincide with a wife or child's birthday, go figure) and many other immeasurable perks.