In tech industry, CFOs make the big bucks
The technology industry's biggest companies are giving their finance chiefs hefty rewards for minimizing taxes and improving their bottom lines. In some cases, a company's CFO is making considerably more than its CEO.
Five of the 10 best-paid CFOs last year worked in the technology industry, according to a Bloomberg ranking of CFO compensation. Bloomberg ranked the CFOs of the top 500 U.S. companies by market value on their total compensation for the latest fiscal year. Total compensation includes salary, bonus, option awards, non-equity incentive plan compensation, change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation.
Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer earned the top spot for pay in fiscal 2012 with a $68.6 million package. Apple CEO Tim Cook made a measly $4.17 million in comparison.
Safra Catz, CFO at Oracle Corp., came in at No. 2 in the ranking with a total compensation of $51.6 million, followed by Patrick Pichette at Google with $38.7 million. R. Milton Johnson, CFO of HCA Holdings, and Michael Angelakis with Comcast Corp., rounded out the top five best-paid CFOs on Bloomberg's list.
Other CFOs that made it into the top 25 ranking include those from Facebook, Intel Corp., Adobe Systems, Ebay and VMWare.
In general, CFOs at major companies were well rewarded for their efforts to avoid income taxes and increase profits. Those working for technology companies did especially well, largely because stocks make up the bulk of CFO compensation within the industry, reported Bloomberg.
CFOs aren't the only executives within the tech industry enjoying a hefty paycheck. Technology has been one of the most lucrative for executives. Six of the top-10 highest paid executives in the entire S&P 500 in 2012 were from technology companies, according to Bloomberg.
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com