CEO pay

The average CEO of an S&P 500 company brings home almost $13 million -- but some earn much more. The AP's list of the 10 highest-paid CEOs highlights where the biggest paychecks went -- and what America's companies got in return.

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by the AP using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

Nearly 70 top executives at three companies bailed out by the taxpayers during the 2008 financial crisis -- AIG, Ally Financial and GM -- were ordered to take pay 10% cuts by the federal government, and the CEOs had their pay frozen at 2011 levels.

Twenty five CEOs of America's top companies earned more money than their companies paid in taxes last year, according to the Institute for Policy Studies' Executive Excess report. See which firms and CEOs made the list.

The average person may find it hard to imagine what big company CEOs do to justify their massive pay packages. Shareholders often ask a similar question: Why pay executives so much when the returns they produce are often so modest? But that's a question that doesn't apply to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Last year saw a surge in stock repurchases -- companies like ExxonMobil, Walmart and Microsoft bought back shares at record levels. Buybacks can be seen as a cash giveaway to investors, and they boost earnings per share. But there's a strong reason to be wary of companies that do buybacks.

CEO bonuses rose 30.5% in the past year, but are the heads of large U.S. firms really earning their hefty compensation packages by creating increased profits and shareholder value? A closer look reveals wide disparities: There are some Bargain CEOs, but also some Hogs and Value Destroyers.

Most workers would worry about losing their jobs, let alone receiving a bonus, if they slacked off, but CEOs are held to a different standard. For example, despite several stumbles, GSK's CEO got a nice bonus, and J&J's CEO even got a raise for a job badly done.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved a measure that gives institutional shareholders a vote on executive pay at large corporations, part of regulators' efforts to give investors greater say over top-level salaries that have been described as excessive.

To wrap your head around how much someone like Larry Ellison makes, try comparing his compensation to the median income of an American household -- $49,777. His 2008 take of $543 million is the equivalent of the annual earnings of 10,908 average American families. Got that?