Size Matters in Executive Pay, Too

The biggest companies give their C.E.O.'s the biggest pay raises.

In a new C.E.O. survey by the Corporate Library, the median increase in total actual compensation between 2006 and 2007 was 22 percent for S&P 500 C.E.O.'s as compared with 15 percent for C.E.O.'s at midsized companies. Smallcap C.E.O.'s trailed in median increase at 5.5 percent.

With stock options plummeting on the market, these C.E.O.'s have been some of the biggest losers in the recent stock market turmoil as well, but these percentage increases suggest that none of them should be hurting for cash any time soon.

The median income for all C.E.O.'s in the survey was just over $2 million; the median compensation for S&P 500 C.E.O.'s was $9.2 million. Hardly a pittance.

Now that many big companies are benefiting from the Treasury Department's $700 billion-and-counting plan, some corporate boards may want to revisit the compensation increases they've been lavishing on their C.E.O.'s.

As the hubbub over AIG's luxury retreat showed, more scrutiny and calls for oversight from Congress go hand in hand with taxpayer involvement in a bailout.

With dire predictions for many companies and the economy as a whole for 2009, perhaps next year's edition of this survey will look a lot different.

by Rafael Cohen

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