Apple CEO's pay for 2011 valued at $378 million

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

Apple CEO Tim Cook's salary is $900,000. But that's just the beginning.

By Martin Wolk

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook was awarded $378 million in compensation last year, making him by far the top-paid CEO among big public companies in a study published Sunday in the New York Times.

Cook?s pay package included a salary of $900,000, a bonus of $900,000 and a one-time award of Apple stock that initially was valued at $376.2 million but has soared along with Apple?s stock price to $634 million, according to the Times.

The pay package, which vests over 10 years, was worth more than the pay awards granted to the next nine highest-paid CEOs combined, according to the Times, which enlisted the consulting firm Equilar to analyze CEO pay.

Running a distant No. 2 on the list of top-paid executives was Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison (described as a ?perennial on the best-paid list?) with total pay valued at $77.6 million, followed by J.C. Penney CEO Ronald Johnson at $53.3 million.

The Times story noted that Johnson got his pay package as an incentive for leaving his position as a senior vice president at Apple, where he left behind an unvested stock package that would have been worth $159 million at current share prices.

Rounding out the top five among 100 CEOs studied were Phillippe Dauman of Viacom at $43.1 million and David Cole of Honeywell at $35.3 million.

Despite the mind-numbing figures, pay for the 100 CEOs overall was up only 2 percent from 2010, according to the Times. The median compensation for the CEOs in the group was $14.4 million.

For a full list of the top 50 CEOs, check out the Times? interactive graphic.

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