| Highest paid CEOs, 2008 | ||||
| Name | Company | Compensation | ||
| Stephen Schwarzman | Blackstone Group | $702,440,573 | ||
| Lawrence Ellison | Oracle Corp. | $556,976,600 | ||
| Ray Irani | Occidental Petroleum Corp. | $222,639,705 | ||
| John Hess | Hess Corp. | $159,566,940 | ||
| Michael Watford | Ultra Petroleum Corp. | $116,929,392 | ||
| Aubrey McClendon | Chesapeake Energy Corp. | $114,286,867 | ||
| Bob Simpson | XTO Energy Inc. | $103,485,972 | ||
| Mark Papa | EOG Resources, Inc. | $90,471,784 | ||
| Eugene Isenberg | Nabors Industries Ltd. | $79,333,079 | ||
| Michael Jeffries | Abercrombie & Fitch Co. | $71,795,744 | ||
Ten CEOs take home more than $70 million in 2008, with Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman topping the list with more than $700 million in compensation.
Last year was a bad one for most chief executives — but not for the top 10 highest paid CEOs.
Seven chief executives took home more than $100 million in 2008, and three others had paydays that topped $70 million, according to a report released Friday by The Corporate Library. According to the report, Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman was the highest paid CEO in 2008, taking home $702,440,573 in salary and stock options. The head of the financial services giant vested nearly $700 million worth, or 25% of the stock options he was granted after taking Blackstone public in 2007.
Schwarzman will receive the other 75% of his $4.7 billion equity grant from the IPO in equal installments over the next four years, so he will likely remain at the top of this list for at least the next several years.
A Blackstone spokesman stressed that the $702 million for Blackstone is not "compensation," but is mostly the vested portion of his stock from the IPO.
Oracle Chief Executive Lawrence Ellison, 2007's highest paid CEO, was second on the list, pocketing nearly $557 million.
Like Schwarzman, most of Ellison's compensation came from exercised stock options, which totaled $543 million from a whopping 36 million options. That's despite a 21% drop in Oracle's share price over 2008. With 33.4 million stock options still outstanding and a 24% rise in Oracle's stock, Ellison's likely to keep his top spot on the list in 2009.
The next seven highest paid CEOs all helm energy companies: Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum, John Hess of Hess Corp., Michael Watford of Ultra Petroleum, Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake Energy, Bob Simpson of XTO Energy, Mark Papa of EOG Resources and Eugene Isenberg of Nabors Industries.
Oil prices — and the stock price of most energy companies — rocketed higher in the first half of 2008, before plummeting lower in the end of the year. Despite that roller coaster, these CEOs' stock options were still worth quite a bit.
And coming in at No. 10 was Michael Jeffries, chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch. Despite a tough year for retail, in which Abercrombie's stock dropped nearly 70%, Jeffries made more than $60 million in stock options. Jeffries was also awarded a $6 million "stay bonus" after remaining as the company's chairman and CEO through December 2008, on top of his $1.5 million salary, $1.3 million for personal aircraft usage and $382,687 towards his 401(k).
