The Top 10 Highest Paid CEOs in 2014

Top 10 Highest Paid CEOs in 2014: Ever since the financial crisis of 2008, executive compensation has been a widely debated topic. Many continue to argue that CEOs have excessively high salaries, while employees only receive a small fraction of those sums despite putting in the same amount of hours everyday. Hence, with executive compensation having risen for the fourth year in a row and pay packages experiencing an increase in value of over 50% in that period, the topic is still fresh.

Our intention here is not to spark a debate regarding the moral implications of the wide salary gap between CEOs and employees. Nevertheless, it is quite astonishing to learn how much the top 10 highest paid CEOs actually earn per year. Especially considering the median pay for executives has breached the $10 million mark. Also, after taking a look at the 10 youngest hedge fund billionaires in a previous post, we decided CEO were also worth looking at.

Before getting into further detail, it is noteworthy that the following information was provided by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive pay research firm. The study includes not only salaries, but also stock components, which have experienced a surge in recent years due to positive evolution of the stock market. Now let’s take a closer look at the 10 highest paid CEOs this year.

10. Highest Paid CEO: Brian Roberts – $31.4 million

The CEO of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has increased his earnings by 8 percent this year, allowing him to position himself amongst the 10 highest paid in 2014. Brian Roberts is well rewarded for his efforts, which include conducting everyday business for NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.

9. Highest Paid CEO: Jeffrey Bewkes – $32.5 million

Following a 27 percent increase in pay, the CEO of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) has achieved an annual income of $32.5 million. This should come as little surprise, since shares of Time Warner are up by around 30 percent this year.