http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-much-the-best-and-worst-ceos-got-paid-1435104565
The Wall Street Journal’s survey measures pay granted in the most recent fiscal year. That includes salary and annual cash bonus, plus equity and other performance awards, some of which will pay off only if future performance targets are met. The numbers have kept on growing.
“Say on pay really hasn’t impacted the absolute size of CEO pay,’’ said Irv Becker, U.S. leader of board solutions for Hay Group. “But it has impacted the design to be more performance based.’’ So when corporate performance weakens, he said, “we should see an appropriate” CEO-pay decline.
That doesn’t always happen. Among the worst performers in this year’s survey was Weatherford International PLC. The oil-services company, struggling to navigate the collapse in the price of crude, delivered a negative 26.1% total shareholder return last year and has announced plans to lay off about 15% of its workforce by the end of June. Weatherford’s average annual shareholder return over the past three years was a negative 7.9%, compared with a positive 20.4% for the S&P 500.