Top 8 Most Overpaid CEOs of Public Companies

Now that figures are out to show executive compensation at public companies—how much who made and where—there are some interesting tidbits to be had among all the numbers.

Some of the highest paid among the top 100 companies appear, according to data from GMI, an independent governance ratings firm, not to have earned their daily caviar—er, bread, at least when considering their annual income versus their companies’ financial health, as defined by stock price performance. In order to make the list, CEOs still had to be at the helm of the companies in question.

Here, for your edification (and possible concern), are AdvisorOne’s eight most overpaid executives for 2010, when their pay is considered against the well-being of the companies they are running.

Total compensation, as represented here, includes base salary, perks, cash bonuses, equity awards and any increase in pensions and other retirement benefits. Stock performance data for 2010 came from Capital IQ.

8. KEVIN SHARER:
Amgen
Stock Down 3%
Compensation $21 million

Sharer runs biotech company Amgen Inc., which saw its stock price fall by 3% in 2010. Sharer, on the other hand, saw his total compensation amount to some $21,138,133. Amgen’s shares were hurt by anemic sales of its drugs Epogen and Aranesp, which are used to treat anemia. It is also likely to suffer hemorrhaging in its bottom line due to some of its drugs going generic.

7. WILLIAM WELDON:
Johnson & Johnson
Stock Down 4%
Compensation $28 million

Weldon heads up Johnson & Johnson, whose stock has fallen by 4% in 2010 as he took home a total of $28,720,491. Recalls have troubled the company, with 22 of them occurring in the 19-month period that ended in April.

One of the products recalled was Children’s Tylenol—and, as anyone knows, you don’t mess with anything to do with kids unless you want repercussions. Of course that has cost the company sales, and its forecast of $4.85 in earnings per share, made in January 2011, failed to meet analyst expectations of $4.99 per share for the year.

6. ROBERT STEVENS:
Lockheed Martin
Stock Down 7.2%
Compensation $12 million

Lockheed Martin Corp. paid Stevens some $12,897,820, meanwhile, the company stock was falling 7.2%. The last five years in the market haven’t been kind to the company, either. Of course, part of the problem could be the looming defense cuts, but the F-35 program has seen more than its share of failed tests and delays; that doesn’t tend to increase confidence.

The company said in June that it would cut 6,500 workers from its rolls, but opted not to cut Stevens’ compensation.

5. WILLIAM SWANSON:
Raytheon
Stock Down 10.1%
Compensation $18 million

Defense is not a happy industry these days. But its executives apparently are not included in the general gloom. Swanson, at Raytheon Co., has seen his company’s stock price fall 10.1% over 2010. Meanwhile, his payday totaled $18,787,343. Not bad for a company whose net income fell from $1.9 billion in 2009 to $1.8 billion in 2010—and is facing defense cuts as well, threatening its bottom line further.

4. MILES WHITE:
Abbott Laboratories
Stock Down 11.3%
Compensation $25 million