2006 Compensation: $8,227,421

Mike Zafirovski joined Nortel in 2005 after Motorola's board of directors appointed Ed Zander as CEO instead of him. Zafirovski was serving as Motorola's COO at the time. A few months later he resigned and joined Nortel as CEO, but Motorola filed a suit against him alleging violations of a non-disclosure agreement. Nortel paid Motorola $11.5 million to settle the suit.