Posted by Leonard Steinberg on May 28th, 2014

Todays revelation of executive pay shows how much top executives earn, and already the cries of outrage are being heard. The divide between the top earners and the average earners in a company is growing, yet the divide between those that are often responsible for the livelihoods of thousands and those that get married for publicity is growing too. The median annual pay of the top 300 largest publicly traded corporate bosses was $ 11.4million, certainly not a number to be sneezed at. Yet at the top, certain executives made in excess of $ 30m! Larry Ellison hit the jackpot with $ 76.9million, just shy of $ 1.5m per week, slightly less than Lady Gaga though. The top 10% by pay earned 23% of the total compensation, while the bottom 30% accounted for just 13% of the total.

Now compare these numbers to the payouts of celebrities:  Madonna earned $ 125m in 2013…..Lady Gaga $ 80m…..Dr. Dre $ 40m…..Tom Brady $ 38m……Glenn Beck $ 90m……Judge Judy $ 47m…..Tyler Perry $ 78m…..Tiger Woods $ 78m….the amazingly talented Kim Kardashian earns well over $10m per year…..Kanye West $ 20m…..all these figures should put executive pay into perspective for anyone outraged that corporate executives are overpaid. Some certainly are, but when compared to the world of celebrity, they are a relative bargain.