The top paid telecom executives of 2006

by Matthew Lasar Dec 27 2007 - 5:38pm Statistics

Nothing LLFCC likes more than to wander around the various government Web sites and see what new widget is available. I know. Get a life.

But look! The Security and Exchange Commission now has a handy-dandy new database that tells you who in the corporate world is making what these days.

These are, of course, the firms that voluntarily disclosed this data. LLFCC couldn't resist downloading the numbers and coming up with this table. Enjoy!

CEO	2006 compensation (that includes salary, pension, bonuses, options, the works)	Corporation revenue (in millions)
Alltell Corp: Scott Ford	$14,115,770	7,884
AT&T: Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.,	$60,726,924	63,055
CBS: Leslie Moonves	$28,637,111	14,320
Clear Channel: Mark Mays	$9,311,996	7,067
Comcast: Brian L. Roberts	$26,001,696	24,900
DIRECTV: Chase Carey	$12,470,904	14,756
Embarq: Michael B. Fuller	$12,410,644	6,363
Qwest: Richard C. Notebaert	$16,490,487	13,923
Sirius Satellite Radio: Mel Karmazin	$31,217,249	637
Sprint: Timothy M. Donahue	$36,208,669	41,028
Verizon: Ivan G. Seidenberg	$21,260,700	88,100
Viacom: Thomas E. Freston	$89,302,968	11,466

LLFCC isn't going to shed too many tears for the bottom earner on this list, Clear Channel's Mark Mays. But one can't help but note that his media empire generated many times more revenue than Sirius Satellite Radio, yet he's pulling in less than a third of the latter's CEO Mel Karmazin.

Just goes to show that life is not fair; that is, if you actually think that making over nine million bucks a year is not fair (to the person making the money).

BTW: That Thomas E. Freston figure ($89 million) is something, no? Really something when you consider the fact that Exxon CEO R.W. Tillerson got a little over 13 million in compensation last year—that for a company that earned 364 billion dollars in revenue, about 31 times what Viacom took in. Go figure.