Mark Hurd

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.

Want to make an easy $6.6 million at Best Buy? Find a way to be its next CEO and then have an inappropriate relationship with an employee. Because as Brian Dunn has shown, getting booted for a shady affair won't cost you your big golden parachute.

On Monday, the stock market will take the day off to shake the confetti out of its hair. But on Tuesday, it'll be back to business as usual on Wall Street. Here are some of the items that will shape the first trading week of 2012.

On Tuesday, Yahoo ousted embattled CEO Carol Bartz, potentially paving the way for media-savvy executive Ross Levinsohn to step in and lead the struggling Internet company. To date, some members of Yahoo's board are "very much impressed" with Levinsohn, according to one source.

Hewlett-Packard is planning an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the forced resignation of CEO Mark Hurd last year and the compensation package he received. A shareholder lawsuit claims HP's directors wasted company money by awarding Hurd as much as $53 million in severance.

Federal regulators are investigating the circumstances of Mark Hurd's forced resignation five months ago as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. HP, the world's biggest maker of personal computers, said it is cooperating with the investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was earlier...

CEOs are supposed to know when to say no. But when it comes to the temptation of having an adulterous affair, even some of the toughest-minded bosses just can't hold up a stop sign. Here are nine chief execs (all men) who made headlines for succumbing to the call of lust.

Jodie Fisher, whose relationship with Mark Hurd helped bring about his ouster as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has claimed that Hurd shared information about HP's buyout of Electronic Data Systems before it was made public.

In a trial that starts Monday, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison says he intends to prove that incoming Hewlett-Packard chief executive Leo Apotheker stole ideas from Oracle in his previous position as head of European competitor SAP.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison doesn't think highly of Hewlett-Packard's board. In fact, he thinks the entire board should resign -- pronto. Why? Because "the madness must stop," Ellison said, referring to HP's hiring of Leo Apotheker, a former chief of German software giant SAP