The world's best paid CEOs in 2012

Company: Disney

CEO: Robert A. Iger

2012 compensation: $40,227,848

Robert A. Iger is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company.

Iger believes generating creative content, fostering innovation and expanding into new markets are the fundamental keys to Disney's success. Prior to his current role, Iger served as Disney's president and CEO from 2005, and also as the company's chief operating officer.

Disney has acquired three large content producers and animators in the last ten years, Pixar in 2006, Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012.

The Disney CEO has been named one of Fortune's "25 most powerful people in business."

Via: Disney

Image credit: Walt Disney

Company: Exxon Mobil

CEO: R. W. Tillerson

2012 compensation: $40,266,501

Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, joined the firm in 1975 as a production engineer, before becoming general manager of the U.S. division in 1989, responsible for oil and gas productions throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas.

After making his way up the ranks, Tillerson was elected CEO in 2006.

Via: Exxon Mobil

Image credit: Exxon Mobil

Company: Level 3 Communications

CEO: James Q. Crowe

2012 compensation: $40,708,970

James Q. Crowe served as the CEO and President of Level 3 Communications until April 11 this year, and is now CEO and President of Crowe Building Products.

The 63-year-old served as CEO from August 1997, and has been a chairman for various firms in the United States. 

Via: BusinessWeek

Company: Jefferies Group LLC

CEO: Richard B. Handler

2012 compensation: $45,182,239

Richard Handler is CEO of Leucadia National Corporation and one of its directors. He has been chairman of Jefferies Group since February 2002 and CEO since January 2001. Mr. Handler also has served as CEO of Jefferies & Company, the firm's principal operating subsidiary, since January 2001, as president of Jefferies since May 2006, and as co-president and co-coo of both companies during 2000. Mr. Handler was first elected to the board in May 1998.

Handler is also chairman and CEO of the Handler Family Foundation, a nonprofit foundation working primarily with underprivileged children.

Via: Stanford

Company: Liberty Interactive

CEO: Gregory B. Maffei

2012 compensation: $45,302,040

Greg Maffei became CEO of Liberty in February 2006. Previously, Greg served as president and CFO of Oracle, CEO of 360networks Corporation, CFO of Microsoft, and chairman of Expedia. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Liberty's assets include some of the world's most respected media companies including QVC, Starz, SiriusXM, Expedia, Live Nation and the Atlanta Braves. 

Company: HCA Holdings

CEO: Richard M. Bracken

2012 compensation: $46,359,246

Mr. Richard M. Bracken serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of GPCH-GP, Inc., HCA Inc., EP Health, LLC , Vh Holdings Inc. and HCA Realty, Inc. Bracken is also the president of Women's And Children's Hospital Inc. and Montgomery Regional Hospital Inc.

Bracken has been the Chief Executive Officer of HCA Holdings since January 1, 2009, and began his career with HCA in 1981 holding various executive positions including Chief Executive Officer of the Green Hospital of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in San Diego and Chief Executive Officer of Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee in 1995. 

Via: Business Week

Company: Discovery Communications

CEO: David M. Zaslav

2012 compensation: $49,932,867

David M. Zaslav, President and CEO of Discovery Communications took the helm in January 2007, and took the firm into its stage as a public company on the Nasdaq..

Prior to Discovery, Zaslav worked at NBC Universal and as an attorney for firms based in New York.

Via: Discovery

Image credit: Discovery

Company: McKesson

CEO: John H. Hammergren

2012 compensation: $51,744,999

John H. Hammergren is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of McKesson Corporation. He was elected President and CEO in 2001 and Chairman in 2002.

During his tenure, the company has increased its revenues to $122.5 billion, expanded into new markets, and advanced to number 14 on the Fortune 500.

Hammergren is currently a member of the Business Council, the Business Roundtable and the Healthcare Leadership Council.  Mr. Hammergren's career at McKesson has included posts as President of Supply Management and Executive Vice President for the pharmaceutical, medical-surgical, pharmacy automation and pharmacy outsourcing businesses of the company. He joined McKesson in January 1996.

Via: McKesson

Image credit: Screenshot via McKinsey

Company: Credit Acceptance

CEO: Brett A. Roberts

2012 compensation: $54,282,500

Brett A. Roberts has been the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Acceptance Corp., since January 2002.

The 47-year-old served as the President of Credit Acceptance Corp. from August 24, 2006 to April 2, 2007, and served as its Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since August 1995. He served as an Executive Vice President since January 1997, Co-President since January 2000, Executive Vice President for Finance and Operations since October 2000 and Chief Operating Officer.

Via: Credit Acceptance | Business Week

Company: Cheniere Energy Inc

CEO: Charif Souki

2012 compensation: $57,518,332

Charif Souki is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Cheniere Energy and CEO & Director at Sabine Pass.

Company: CBS Corp

CEO: Leslie Moonves

2012 compensation: $62,157,026

Leslie Moonves is President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation, one of the world's largest media enterprises.  

Moonves came to CBS in 1995 as President of Entertainment, after serving as president of Warner Bros. Television. Moonves was promoted to President and CEO of CBS Television in 1998, and became its chairman in 2003. He was later named Co-President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of Viacom and chairman of CBS in 2004.

In 2006, when Viacom split its businesses into two publicly traded companies, Moonves was named president and CEO of the newly formed CBS Corporation

Via: CBS 

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Company: Activision

CEO: Robert A. Kotick

2012 compensation: $64,942,306

Robert A. Kotick is Director; President and Chief Executive Officer of Activision. Kotick has been a Director and Chief Executive Officer of Activision, Inc. since February 1991 until July 2008, when he became Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard in connection with the combination of Activision and Vivendi Games.

Via: Activision

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Company: GAMCO Investors

CEO: Mario J. Gabelli

2012 compensation: $68,970,486

Mario J. Gabelli is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GAMCO Investors, Inc., the firm he founded in 1977. 

Gabelli serves on the Boards of Boston College, Roger Williams University, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, the American-Italian Cancer Foundation, the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture and is a Trustee of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States and of the E.L. Wiegand Foundation. 

Via: GAMCO

Image credit: GAMCO

Company: Tesla Motors

CEO: Elon Musk

2012 compensation: $78,150,010

Elon Musk co-founded Tesla and continues to oversee the company's product strategy as Chairman and Product Architect. In October 2008, he took on the responsibility of CEO.

Musk has been fascinated by electric cars for two decades. After earning bachelor's degrees in physics and business from the University of Pennsylvania, he worked briefly on ultracapacitors at Pinnacle Research in Silicon Valley to understand their potential as an energy storage mechanism for EVs. He planned to do graduate studies at Stanford in materials science and applied physics but put school on hold to start Internet companies Zip2 and PayPal. In addition to his Tesla duties, he serves as CEO and CTO of SpaceX, and he's Chairman of SolarCity.

Via: Tesla

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Company: Oracle

CEO: Lawrence J. Ellison

2012 compensation: $96,160,696

Lawrence J. Ellison has been CEO of Oracle Corporation since he founded the company in 1977. Ellison also served as the Chief Executive Officer of C-COR Inc. , co-founded Netsuite, co-founded Knowledge Universe Holdings and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and worked as the Chairman and CEOr of nCUBE Corporation.

He served as the President of Oracle Corp. from May 1977 to June 1996 and chairman from May 1995 to January 2004 and also from April 1990 to September 1992, and a Director of Oracle since June 1977.

Ellison also served as a Director of Apple Inc. from 1997 to 2002. 

Via: Oracle | Business Week

Image credit: Jack Clark/ ZDNet