A chief executive officer of a Standard & Poor’s (S&P;) 500 index company was paid, on average, $9.25 million in total compensation in 2009.[1] At the same time, millions of workers lost their jobs, their homes and their retirement savings in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
Executive pay has taken center stage since the $700 billion government bailout of financial institutions. Americans expressed outrage as big banks helped create the financial crisis, took billions in taxpayer bailouts, paid out billions in pay and bonuses and are now lobbying on financial regulatory reform.
The case studies here focus on executive pay at six of the biggest banks that received government bailout funds and their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts. Also in Executive PayWatch, you can find CEO compensation data for some of the country’s largest companies; learn how you, as a shareholder, can have your "Say-on-Pay"; and find out what you can do to ensure re-regulation of the financial system.
Wells Fargo John Stumpf 2009 Total Compensation: $21,340,547
[1] AFL-CIO analysis of 292 companies in the S&P; 500 Index. CEO pay data provided by salary.com.
Watch AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka discuss the 2010 Executive PayWatch. This year's PayWatch spotlights Wall Street bankers and their outrageous pay and lobbying efforts against financial reform. More Videos
A chief executive officer of a Standard & Poor’s (S&P;) 500 index company was paid, on average, $9.25 million in total compensation in 2009.
