CEO pay rose 15 percent in 2003, survey finds

NEW YORK — The median pay for a CEO in the United States increased by 15 percent last year, and rose even more — 22 percent — for chiefs at larger companies, according to a survey by The Corporate Library.

The survey, released Wednesday, showed increases in almost every category of executive compensation, including base salary, annual bonus, total annual compensation, restricted stock, long-term incentive payouts and the value realized from the exercise of stock options. The only category to decline from 2002 to 2003 was the value of stock option grants.

Despite some calls for more restraint in CEO pay, it was a better year for the executives than 2002, when total compensation rose by a median of 9.5 percent.

The CEOs of four companies — Oracle Corp., Apple Computer Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. — watched their total compensation packages surge by more than 1,000 percent in 2003, largely through exercising stock options and receiving restricted stock.

In comparing 2002 and 2003 compensation, the survey included more than 1,400 CEOs who occupied their posts for both years. Excluded were those who received no pay one year and normal pay the next, and vice versa.

Among the 372 companies included in the survey that are listed on the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, median compensation for CEOs rose 22.18 percent. Of the 1,059 remaining chief executives, the median increase was 13.12 percent. Taken together, the increase was 15 percent.

Despite public outcry in recent years against excessive pay levels, the report said that “since every other element of pay has increased, both in magnitude and frequency, CEOs are unlikely to feel the squeeze for at least three years, perhaps never.”

The survey also examined the pay of 1,794 CEOs who held their posts for all of 2003, and found that median compensation was $1.85 million.

IAC/InterActiveCorp’s CEO, Barry Diller, had the highest total compensation, according to the survey. He received $156 million in 2003, including stock option profits of $151 million.

Industry by industry, The Corporate Library reported that CEOs of telecommunications and securities and commodities companies had some of the highest median total compensation levels in 2003, coming in at around $8 million in both categories.