When was the last time you got a raise? HAHA just kidding, you're probably not even employed! But if you happen to be an executive at one of 200 of the largest companies in the US (and are reading this to "keep up with the little people") your annual pay rose by 23% in 2010, to an average of $10.8 million. Meanwhile, us plebes were making an average of $752 a week, which with inflation is less than we made in 2009. Insider investment tip: the future is in guillotine manufacturers.
A study commissioned by the NY Times revealed that executive compensation is climbing back towards pre-recession levels, with cash bonuses for CEO's three times what they were before the financial collapse a few years ago. Phillippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, ranked as the highest paid executive, earning $84.5 million last year in a field where media heads dominated, earning 6 spots amongst the top-10 highest-paid suits.
Some execs were paid more as a reward for improving their company's value—like Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes, who made $26.1 million after increasing the company's profit by 4% in 2010. But as this nifty chart shows, "many executives were still paid about the same as their peers, regardless of how their companies' shares performed for investors." And you thought raises had to be based on performance. How quaint!
