Larry Ellison tops WSJ pay list

Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle, was the most highly paid chief executive of an American-exchange listed company over the past decade, according to a review compiled by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). 

Information and communications technology companies fared well in the WSJ’s rich list, making up a quarter of those included in its top 25. The figures included salaries, bonuses and stock options.  

Ellison’s “total realised compensation” of US$1.84 (A$2.04) billion for the decade to June 2009 trumped Apple’s Steve Jobs whose fortunes came in at fourth with US$784 (A$868) million, which was roughly the same amount that separated Ellison from second spot holder, Expedia.com chief Barry Diller, who had netted US$1.14 (A$1.26) billion.

The top ten chiefs were leaders of media, information technology, finance, offshore drilling and insurance companies.

Yahoo’s Terry Semel came in at eighth spot with US$489 million, while Michael Dell, whose fortunes have been on the slide, was placed at twelfth with US$453 million.

A Dell spokesperson had reportedly told WSJ that its chief’s compensation was primarily from the boom days of the 1990s when its stock price was high and that Mr Dell had not received a bonus for four years. 

Other tech companies’ chiefs that made the list included telecoms equipment maker Qualcomm’s Irwin Jacobs. At 15th on the list, Jacobs pipped Cisco’s boss of 15 years John Chambers.