Pay gaps within companies widen as top two earners, led by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, earn billion-dollar paychecks....
All told, the top 10 CEOs in this year’s poll took home over $4.7bn between them and for the first time ever none earned less than $100m....
Overall GMI’s poll of pay and other forms of compensation for 2,259 US CEOs found an average rise of 8.47%, less than the double-digit growth they have enjoyed for the past two years. But the average hides a more complex picture. This year’s top earners far outstripped those below them by making huge fortunes cashing in share options as the stock markets bounced back.
The report further illustrates the widening gap between CEO pay and that of the average worker. According to the US census bureau, median household income, adjusted for inflation, was $51,017 in 2012, broadly unchanged from 2011. Wages for the average household have fallen about 9% from an inflation-adjusted peak of $56,080 in 1999. The census figures show a sharp recovery for those at the top of the wage scale as those at the bottom continue to see falls.
The average pay package of an S&P 500 CEO – the US’s top 500 companies – last year was $13.7m. For those in charge of S&P small cap companies it was $3.5m....
Of the top 10 earners in 2012 all received the majority of their compensation for the year from share schemes.The Raw Story
As pay gaps widen, America’s CEOs break record as top earners take home at least $100 million each
Dominic Rushe, The Guardian
We are approaching, "Let them eat cake."
This is an institutional problem that is becoming a structural one. CEO compensation has now become a fad, and the result is that CEO's will compete not only to lead the pack but just to keep up. This will put even more pressure on a system that is already buckling as the middle class in developed countries slip into the lower class. Not a healthy trend for democracy and social stability.
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