Highest paid public company CEOs: ranked by total company compensation in 2007

San Fernando Valley Business Journal, Nov 24, 2008 by Linda Coburn

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As expected, compensation for the Valley's highest paid CEOs followed the general economic trend of decline. The list, though, is not remarkably different from the previous year, with four new companies, all techies, joining and only four actually dropping off.

The most notable of the departures was Sport Chalet president Craig Levra who saw his total compensation drop from $6.8 million in 2006 to just $374,582 this year. That company's stock, which had been trading at about $10 a share on average, fell to $6 a share by the close of 2007 and since then has plummeted to near de-listing levels. The leader of the lender still known as Countrywide in 2007, Angelo Mozilo, took a hefty paycut as well, dropping from $48 million in '06 to a mere $10.8 million while Chad Dreier of homebuilder Ryland still received $14.3 million in compensation despite a stunning negative 51 percent return on equity for the year.

Jeffrey Katzenberg of Dreamworks made it int0 the top 5 despite his $1 salary. His move up from No. 12 is completely based on the value of stock options and awards.

The four new companies on the list are all in the technology industry with three coming from the Conejo Valley.

Plunging in at number 9 is Robert Mehranbian of Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies guided the company's per share price from $30 at the midpoint of 2005 to just over $50 by the end of 2007. Debuting in the 16 spot is Mohan Maheswaran of Semtech Corp. in Camarillo. During 2007, the company's stock price was generally on an upward trend hitting a high of just over $20 in October of that year. Our fourth new entry, Mike Thoben of Interlink Electronics is also from Camarillo, while just making it at No. 25 is John Rush of North American Scientific in Chatsworth.

PACESETTER

Total company compensation for the 25 highest paid CEOs in the Valley plunged a spectacular 33 percent in 2007, from a combined $200 million to $150 million.

The $50 million difference is less than the combined losses of two individuals: Angelo Mozilo and Chad Dreier.

Eight others saw their compensation decrease while nine executives received a bigger paycheck. The remainder are either new to the list or had no real change.

Five of the companies represented had net losses for the year compared with just two in the previous period.