By Dan Hart April 4 (Bloomberg) — Larry Ellison , chief executive officer of Oracle Corp. , was the highest-paid U.S. CEO last year as compensation fell for the second straight year amid the recession, the New York Times reported. Ellison received $84.5 million, all but $6.1 million of it in stock options, the newspaper said, citing a study by Equilar . The median total compensation for U.S. executives declined 13 percent to $7.7 million, while average total pay fell 15 percent to $9.5 million for chief executives at their companies at least two years, the newspaper said, citing the survey by executive compensation tracker Equilar. The median compensation for executives of companies receiving funds from the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, was $6 million, down 34 percent from a year earlier. The median cash payout for the group rose 20 percent, while the stock and options component fell 94 percent and 92 percent, respectively, the newspaper said. Equilar’s study for the Times covered 199 public companies with 2009 revenue of at least $5.78 billion that filed annual proxy statements by March 26, the newspaper said. Boston Scientific Corp. ’s Raymond Elliott was second in the ranking with $33.4 million, including a bonus of $2.1 million, the newspaper said. Ray Irani , chief executive of Occidental Petroleum Corp. , was third with $31.4 million, up 39 percent from a year earlier, the newspaper said. Hewlett-Packard Co. ’s Mark Hurd saw his compensation decline 29 percent to $24.2 million, which included a $15.8 million bonus, in placing fourth in the survey, the newspaper said. James Hackett , chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. , was fifth with $23.5 million, most of that in restricted stock and stock options, the newspaper said. Rounding out the top 10 in sixth through 10th place, respectively, were: Alan Lafley , Procter & Gamble Co., $23.5 million; William Weldon , Johnson & Johnson, $22.8 million; Miles White , Abbott Laboratories, $21.9 million; Robert Iger , Walt Disney Co., $21.6 million; and Sam Palmisano , International Business Machines Corp., $21.2 million, the Times said. To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net .
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Oracle’s Ellison Highest-Paid CEO as Paychecks Shrink, New York Times Says
