Oracle chief Ellison tops compensation list, IAC’s Diller No. 2

Larry Ellison, the founder and chief executive of the software company Oracle, tops the list of the highest paid executives at public companies over the last decade, a Wall Street Journal analysis released on Monday said.

He was compensated $1.84 billion in that period, the report says.

Second on the list is Barry Diller, the chairman of Expedia and chief executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp. He was compensated $1.14 billion in that period. Steve Jobs, chief executive at Apple, ranked fourth, bringing in $749 million. The full list is here. 

The analysis includes salaries, bonuses, perks and realized gains on restricted stock and stock options, the report said. It excludes new grants of restricted stock and stock options. 

Critics said stock options can drive executive compensation upward without helping shareholders, according to the report.

Dell shareholders “lost 66 percent of the value of their stock during the decade, while CEO Michael Dell, who launched the computer maker in his dorm room in the 1980s, brought home $454 million,” the report says.

Still, many argue that large compensation packages align with high performance.

Oracle shareholders “saw the value of their stock triple, while shareholders of Apple saw their stock soar nearly 12 times over,” the report says. 

“Consider Mr. Ellison, a 65-year-old sailing enthusiast who founded Oracle in 1977. In the 10 years ended May 31, 2009, the most recent fiscal year for which Oracle has disclosed pay data, its market capitalization nearly tripled, to $98 billion, from $36 billion,” the report says.