The incredible growing CEO paycheck: By the numbers

Are you the CEO of a giant publicly traded company? If so, congratulations: You probably make about $15 million a year

Marissa Mayer
(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
Peter Weber, The Week US
By Peter Weber, The Week US
last updated

The chief executives of large U.S. companies are paid a lot of money and got a hefty raise last year, according to data compiled by Equilar for The New York Times. "In other words, it’s still good to be king," says Gretchen Morgenson in The Times. And "the idea that shareholders were finally getting through to corporate boards on the topic of reining in pay"? Not so much.

This isn't exactly news, says Matthew Yglesias at Slate. Everyone knows that CEOs get paid a lot, and "that the pay gap between the big executives and the average Joe has been growing." The surprise in The New York Times' great database of corporate compensation "is the striking lack of method to the madness: America's CEOs are paid a lot largely because other American CEOs are also paid a lot."

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Peter Weber, The Week US
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.  

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