Oracle's Larry Ellison: Best Paid CEO of Decade

By: Jimmy So
Topics: Barack Obama ,; Bailouts ,; Compensation

The best-paid executive in the past decade: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.

(Credit: AP Photo)

Larry Ellison, founder and chief executive of software maker Oracle Corp., was the highest-paid CEO of a public company in the past decade, making $1.84 billion in that span, according to a ranking from The Wall Street Journal.

The bulk of that enormous loot - as well as most other top CEO's source of compensation - comes from realized gains on options, which alone netted him $1.78 billion. Forbes Magazine estimates his net worth at $28 billion, making him the third richest American and sixth richest human being in the world.

Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActive Corp. and the man responsible for Expedia.com and The Daily Beast, was number two on the list, receiving roughly $1.14 billion. Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum Corp. came in third at $857 million.

And fourth on the list is Steve Jobs.

The Apple honcho's pay came in at $749 million, but he differed from most other chief executives in that restricted stock - $646 million of it - represented much of its source.

Where, you ask, is Bill Gates? Or Warren Buffett? Well, Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in January 2000 and retired as a Microsoft employee in 2008. Buffett makes his money from investments and gets only peanuts from Berkshire Hathaway.

It may well irk a few (and there are a great many) Main Street victims of the Wall Street financial collapse to see former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld and ex-Citigroup Inc., CEO Sandy Weill at 11th and 19th, respectively, and to find former Countrywide Financial Corp., CEO Angelo Mozilo on the list. Mozilo and Fuld cashed in big before arguably driving their companies into the ground.

Could there be small comfort in President Barack Obama signing the financial reform bill last week, which gives shareholders a periodic, nonbinding vote on their firm's executive-pay package?

Well, consider this: four of the 10 highest-paid CEOs ran companies that lost money over the decade.

For more on the issue of CEO compensation, visit The Wall Street Journal's Executive Pay page.

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by zippiez July 29, 2010 7:25 AM EDT: It appears most ceos do not make money the old fashioned way!; Reply to this comment


by perish2 July 27, 2010 6:22 PM EDT: "Could there be small comfort in President Barack Obama signing the financial reform bill last week, which gives shareholders a periodic, nonbinding vote on their firm's executive-pay package?"
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The operative words here being "non binding". Since the CEOs are in charge and the boards vote on their compensation, the so called reform bill is just empty rhetoric designed to placate those of us who wish there really was some way to change such one sided gathering of wealth. If just a few stockholders control the majority of stock, there is no hope of voting reasonable pay for these guys and paying a decent dividend to the stockholders or using the money for re-investment like expansion and more jobs.; Reply to this comment

by thesevenveils July 27, 2010 2:06 PM EDT

Steve Jobs - makes big bucks working for Apple. And then he is making major bucks from his movie company. And as icing on the cake, he is Disney's largest shareholder and raking in mucho dinero from that gig. The question now Jobs, is, what and how are you going to improve this world? I'm not talking about gadgets and gizmos, I'm talking about how are you going to use your fame, wealth and creativity to solve some of mankind's greatest problems? CRICKET....cricket.....

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by porcine_aviator July 27, 2010 4:03 PM EDT: Your same analysis applies to ALL of those in such positions.

and the answer is, most of them won't do a doggoned thing.

The one thing I can say is that even Bill Gates (who I depise for being such a self-righteous clown) is going to leave this world much better off, thanks to his charity. But your point is quite valid: the vast majority of leaders in the private sector are working to achieve nothing other than material gain. It's alright by me to want and earn the finer things in life; but to not open your mind to ACHIEVEMENT, that's a terrible tragedy. Even a poor sicentist or artist leaves a bigger and more valuable moark on the world than 99% of the world's leadership and/or wealthy.


by rightbehind July 27, 2010 2:01 PM EDT: I can see Steve Jobs making that kind of money and more but most of these ceos are clowns that are members of multiple boards that vote each other pay raises. What could they possibly know that makes them worth that kind of money?; Reply to this comment