« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR

A Little Perspective, Please.

Spoiler Alert: XOM CEO Tillerson makes less than the NFL's top cornerback -- and lots of other folks.

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  April 14th, 2012 at 12:28 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

From Business Week:

Exxon’s top exec got a 17pct. pay raise in 2011

Exxon Mobil gave its top executive a 17 percent increase in compensation last year, as the oil giant posted one of its most profitable years on record.

Rex Tillerson, 60, received a pay package worth $25.2 million, up from $21.5 million in 2010, according to an AP analysis of a regulatory filing on Thursday.

Tillerson received an annual salary of $2.4 million, a bonus of $4.4 million and stock awards worth $17.9 million. He also received $519,230 in miscellaneous compensation including life insurance, personal security, personal use of company aircraft, and financial planning.

Tillerson owns 1.743 million shares of XOM stock worth $145 million, or 0.037% of the company. (Most of the stock of the Big Oil companies is owned not by their managers but by pension funds, mutual funds, and individual investors.)

For comparison, here are the latest available annual compensation numbers for the CEOs of XOM’s competition:

Outrageous!

But consider that each of these gentlemen has been successful in rising to the peak of the pyramid in the largest and most complex enterprises in the history of capitalism.

Then consider this:

Actors Earnings (Millions)
Leonardo DiCaprio $77
Johnny Depp $50
Adam Sandler $40
Will Smith $36
Tom Hanks $35
Ben Stiller $34
Robert Downey, Jr. $31
Mark Wahlberg $28
Tim Allen $22
Tom Cruise $22
Actresses Earnings ($Millions)
Angelina Jolie $30
Sarah Jessica Parker $30
Jennifer Aniston $28
Reese Witherspoon $28
Julia Roberts $20
Kristen Stewart $20
Katherine Heigl $19
American Athletes Earnings ($Millions)
Tiger Woods $62.3
Phil Mickelson $61.2
LeBron James $44.5
Peyton Manning $38.0
Alex Rodriguez $36.0
Kobe Bryant $34.8
Kevin Garnett $32.8
Matt Ryan $32.7
Tom Brady $30.0
Dwight Howard $28.6
Dwayne Wade $28.2
Sam Bradford $27.3
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. $26.6
Darrelle Revis $25.8
Jim Furyk $25.3
International Athletes Earnings ($Millions) Sport
Roger Federer $52.8 Tennis
Manny Pacquiao $52.5 Boxing
Fernando Alonso $45.0 Auto Racing
Lionel Messi $43.8 Soccer
Cristiano Ronaldo $38.8 Soccer
Yao Ming $35.7 Basketball
Rafael Nadal $31.5 Tennis
Valentino Rossi $30.0 Motor Sports
Wayne Rooney $29.2 Soccer
Kaka $27.3 Soccer
David Beckham $26.8 Soccer
Ronaldinho $25.8 Soccer
Ichiro Suzuki $24.0 Baseball
Reality “Stars” Earnings ($Millions)
Kim Kardashian $6
Lauren Conrad $5
Bethenny Frankel $4
Audrina Patridge $3.5
Kate Gosselin $3.5
The Situation $3

Cross-posted at stevemaley.com.


Tags: , , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • persiflage

    of XOM stock, the annual compensation of the CEO never enters my mind. XOM, with great regularity, sends me a mighty dividend check. It also, with great labor, produces a plethora of products which I am eager to acquire and am willing to trade for. I like those characteristics in a company.

  • spinoneone

    of the salary of the CEO’s as a percentage of the companies’ profits versus the income of the movie/sports stars measured against the net income of their products would be interesting. It might be difficult for the golfers since each event is independent and there is no “league,” the USGA and women’s version notwithstanding. The movie and stage divas have a similar problem, but that might be solvable since they would only participate in a few productions each year. Then we could see where the real “value” lies.

    • Adjoran

      Much of the athletes’ compensation comes from endorsement deals, so it would be measurable against the profits of the things or companies they sell their names to.

      It is probable that the Big Oil execs also get less as a % of profits than execs in other industries.

      In the ultimate analysis, the free market determines the compensation of all. Brad Pitt isn’t competing with Rex Tillerson anyway, he’s competing with Will Smith and the other movie stars.

      Investors want returns in the form of dividends and appreciation, and what executives earn isn’t so much as a second thought if they deliver – and they will be out even if they work for free if they fail to deliver.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    nt

  • citizenkh

    those stars have the potential of legal civil and criminal liabilities from actions of employees?

    • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

      Just alimony & child support.

    • Adjoran

      from their own actions, they don’t need no stinkin’ employees.

  • johnt

    LBJ was a school teacher, entered politics, and by the time he left his daughters were millionaires. Can’t help wondering though how much more takes subtle or overseas routes. But they are good actors.

  • elayman

    and profits were essentially flat ?

    • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

      Gasoline closely tracks crude oil.

      • Adjoran

        Oil is the raw material and obviously directly affects the gas price. But gasoline is a wholly separate commodity in its own right, with different supply channels and different factors in demand.

        Refineries in the US have been working as close to full capacity as possible for the last 25 years (they have to program in some down time for periodic maintainence or risk catastrophic failure, so it physically can’t reach theoretical “full production”), and the older ones are beginning to close. The last major new one we built was nearly 40 years ago.

        The recent Clean Air Act mandates multiple blends depending on regional air quality, so the production of just regular/mid-grade/premium blends is now nearly 100 different formula, each requiring a shutdown and restart in refining, limiting capacity further.

        It doesn’t matter how much oil we produce domestically if we have to buy refined gasoline abroad. All these things add to the price.

        • ag8tor

          the Goverment and regualtory fees and of course the gas Taxes.Government get more than 50% of the price of a gallon of gas!

  • http://www4.webng.com/rickbull/lostlucky/ rickbull

    and there is a reason that envy is a deadly sin.

    What happened to the day when someone made a success of him/herself and most folks said “Great job!” and gave a thumbs-up? The culture of envy has made success something that they want to carve up and distribute to those who strive to do nothing and succeed at it.

    “The rich” have become the new strawman that is spoken of with envy, when all that is considered is his compensation, but not the blood, sweat and tears that he has put into his work to succeed.

  • Dave_A

    And the shareholders are happy, why not pay the boss more?

    The one thing I find funny, is that most of the folks in the press & other places crowing about how ‘unfair’ it is that CEOs make so much don’t see a problem with their salary vs the lower salaries of other workers in their company…. I mean, if it’s unfair that the CEO makes more than you – if you think he should take a pay-cut to give you a raise… Why aren’t these oh so socially-conscious reporters volunteering to take a pay cut to give the receptionist or janitor a raise?

    Personally, I don’t care – and logically presume – that my boss, or the VPs, or the CEO make more than me… I make more than some other people in the company, because my job commands more money…. They make more than me, because good company brass is harder to find than good network engineers are (for example)…

    It just makes *SENSE* once you get rid of the envy & think logically….

    Of course, that might be Army-me talking through Civillian-me, I’m just used to ‘big, mean’ hierarchical organizations vs the egalitarian anarchy of various sappy protest movements & perpetual student-hood….

    • Adjoran

      Allowing people to be paid whatever they can convince someone to pay them freely and without coercion is a foreign concept to the Left, who ascribe to themselves the sole right to determine the value and compensation of any position.

      For the greater good, of course. We NEED the commissars to prevent us from making incorrect choices.

  • elayman

    It isn’t quite windfall levels, but when profits are up by like 80% among the largest companies and there is very little variation in prices at the pump it is hard not to speculate how much is an artificial increase which consumers are forced to pay through lack of choice.

    • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

      If gasoline prices were set arbitrarily high, as you suggest, why are the financial measures of profitability for oil and gas companies in line with other industries?

      If oil companies can so easily manipulate gasoline prices, why don’t they do the same for natural gas (which, if you haven’t noticed, is at historic lows)?

    • Dave_A

      Need some proof: Look at how much ‘cheating’ goes on with OPEC’s ‘quotas’… And they’re an open, international oil cartel (read: official, not-trying-to-hide it monopolist/trust).

      You see, if all the oil companies got together & said ‘Let’s set the price of oil at $170/bbl this summer’… The first one to break-ranks and sell for $150/bbl (or less) would make a killing. That’s how the market works – no company would pass up the profit potential from higher-volume sales that would come from undercutting everyone who stuck with the $170 plan. Yeah, they’d make a little less per-bbl, but they’d sell a whole lot more than the folks trying to uphold the ‘price-fix’.

      Plus, you can’t be an open price-fixing cartel in the US, that’s illegal. So not only would the oil companies have to find a way to get everyone to play ball (and ignore the profit-potential of saying ‘screw you, I’m selling for less’) – they’d have to do all this in SECRET, to avoid anti-trust action…

      And of course, why zero in on XOM’s CEO, when the CEOs of other oil concerns make more?

      It’s crap. Period.

      • http://stevemaley.com Steve Maley

        Oh, wait, we’ve already done that 17 times.

      • elayman

        I just don’t see the evidence of consistent underselling even at grocery or mega store pumps that should be able to better absorb the loss, although that could be due to inherently limited capacity. Certainly, though, profits of oil companies in the last few years are peanuts compared with Walmart, Apple, etc.

        • Dave_A

          The profit in a gas station, is the convenience store & (if they have one) service garage…. Gas just gets you in to buy other stuff…

          And at least in western WA, the supermarkets (if you have an e-coupon ‘club card’) & ARCO (BP’s ‘generic’ gas brand) are a good 20 cents cheaper than everyone else…. WalMart doesn’t sell gas here – CostCo does but you have to be a paying member.

          And AAFES (the military-base retail monopoly) is required to charge more than the local stations (someone decided it would be ‘unfair’ to local civillian stations if AAFES sold gas state-tax-free (like they do retail products) at cost), so gas on base is not a deal…

          The ‘base’ price of gas is set by the futures market, which bids on contracts to deliver gasoline at a certain price, on a certain date in the future. The same applies for oil & most other raw materials. The traders work in the financial industry, generally not for the companies who’s physical products they are trading.

  • ag8tor

    that government gets over 50% of the price of a gallon of gas in the form of taxes and regulatory fees.
    Also, these “obscene” salaries are a part of doing business in a “Capialist” society. This is what these socialists/marxists want to do away with. They want to make it “Fair” for everyone. Why is it in these types of societies that the government officials are the only ones with $$$$$$? Oh, sorry, that’s what makes socialism so inviting among the masses. True trickle down!

  • mspector

    The disparity in income between the top male and female Hollywood stars? DiCaprio makes $47M more a year than Angelina Jolie (not sure either of them are “worth it”, but somebody must think they are and ultimately that’s what matters). How does liberal Hollywood explain this rampant sexism, one wonders.

  • spolson

    Salaries are decided by the stock holders not public opinion. It is none of our business how much they make.

    My brother in law used to complain about how I had it easy because my father was wealthy and I had all the breaks. He was a Democrat. My father never gave me a dime after I turned 18.

    My brother in law went to the casinos once a month, bought lottery tickets, drank large quantities of Beer and worked 8-5 and went home.

    I ran my own business and worked till the job was done. Stayed up all night with contracts and billing and started the next day at 6.

    People see things with a jaundiced eye.

    • GregInFla

      just get by and complain about it. A brain is a terrible thing to waste, but waste they do.

  • http://www.periodictablet.com superamerican

    I am sure Exxon is owned by every pension fund benefitting members of Congress and the Administration. Including President Obama…oops maybe he’s never worked long enough to earn any pension. Excepting the presidency!

  • Pingback: Blog