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May 2, 2008, 4:39 pm

Top-paid CEOs: Steve Jobs drops from No. 1 to No. 120

Having topped Forbes‘ list of the U.S.’s highest-paid CEOs last year with a total compensation of $646 million — thanks almost entirely to restricted stock grants that vested in 2006 — Apple’s (AAPL) $1-a-year CEO dropped to No. 120 this year. Total 2007 compensation: a mere $14.6 million.

Steve Jobs doesn’t even make the magazine’s list of the top 10 highest-paid tech CEOs. Oracle’s (ORCL) Larry Ellison, America’s highest-paid CEO, is also No. 1 on the tech list (total 2007 compensation: $192.9 million).

Among tech CEOs, Jobs came in at No. 11, despite the fact that his company is one of the most efficient in terms of return on investment, delivering 99.3% in fiscal year 2007, second only to MEMC (126.1%).

You can page slowly through pictures of the top 12 technology CEOs at Forbes.com (link), or take them in at a glance below:

  1. Larry Ellison, Oracle: $192.9 million
  2. Nabeeb Gareel, MEMC Electronic Materials: $79.6 million
  3. John Chambers, Cisco: $54.8 million
  4. Mark Hurd, HP: $27.6 million
  5. Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA: $24.6 million
  6. Samual Palmisano, IBM: $24.3 million
  7. Wendell Weeks, Corning: $22.6 million
  8. Joseph Tucci, EMC: $20 million
  9. William Sullivan, Agilent: $17.4 million
  10. Paul Otellini, Intel: $16.3 million
  11. Steve Jobs, Apple: $14.6 million
  12. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun: $13.5 million

Methodology: “Forbes compiled the list by calculating the overall compensation for the past year for executives, factoring in salary, cash bonuses, vested stock grants, stock gains and exercised stock options.”

I think that if you hold stock in a company who’s CEO is on this list you may have made a bad investment. I haven’t the time on a Sunday morning to crunch the numbers, but how much value did each of these CEOs bring to the shareholder, and does their pay match this?

A quick look at the numbers in the column makes me think that Steve Jobs was a bargain this year, and a disaster last year. Larry Ellison looks like a disaster, heck anyone in the top 12 looks like a probable disaster, and I would hesitate to buy stock in their companies.

Executive compensation appears to (in some companies) be out of control. It needs to be based on the value that the executive brings to his bosses, the stock holders, in a market based approach.

At least that’s how I see it. Mind you, I’d love to have Larry Ellison’s salary .

Posted By Wayne Borean, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada : May 4, 2008 10:54 am

So that’s a bad thing that he gets paid so little??? I don’t think so. I don’t like the idea of owning stock where the CEO gets paid 192 million a year (ORACLE) - it makes me wonder why they can’t find anything better to do with that money. Well done APPLE!

Posted By carrie, calgary canada : May 2, 2008 7:01 pm

Please read correctly before you comment, the list shows
“top 12 technology CEOs” not over the whole range, where is was No 120.

Keep up the good work Steve, its the coming years where you will really shine, ie after apple hits $1000

Posted By scott, sydney, NSW : May 2, 2008 5:43 pm

Hey Fortune, how about doing a list of CEO pay over 5 years instead of just one? That along with shareholder returns over that span might actually show which CEO’s are earning their pay.

Posted By Peter, Cupertino, CA : May 2, 2008 5:03 pm

120?

Posted By Fabio, Italy : May 2, 2008 4:56 pm

Your headline says ‘120′ instead of ‘12′

ex ped: Jobs is No. 120 in the list that includes all U.S. CEOs and No. 11 in the list of tech CEOs.

Posted By Jeffrey Melton, Fort Wayne, IN : May 2, 2008 4:51 pm
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Philip Elmer-DeWittSilicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
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