The 10 highest paid executives in wireless in 2011
Over the past several weeks, publicly traded companies in the wireless industry have filed their annual reports, which reveal executive compensation. FierceWireless looked at the compensation of the highest paid executives in wireless.
The new numbers reveal a few interesting tidbits. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) CEO Lowell McAdam made more than triple in 2011 compared to 2010 (McAdam did not formally succeed Ivan Seidenberg as CEO until August 2011, despite being put in line as COO in October 2010). AT&T (NYSE:T) CEO Randall Stephenson lost more than $5 million in his total 2011 compensation compared to 2010, thanks in part to AT&T's failure to close its $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA.
Often, total compensation reflects not just a base salary but also bonuses and stock options. In some cases, high pay is the reward executives receive for delivering positive results for the company they lead, while in other cases executives have been given large pay packages to stay with a company, as is the case with Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, the highest paid executive in wireless. (According to a recent New York Times analysis, Cook is the highest paid executive, period, by a significant margin.)
Unfortunately, it is impossible right now to conduct a direct 2010 to 2011 comparison of all of the executives who were listed on the 2010 report since some of their companies have not yet filed their annual compensation reports (this affects, most notably, MetroPCS (NASDAQ:PCS) CEO Roger Linquist, Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) CEO Sanjay Jha and U.S. Cellular CEO Mary Dillon).
The following is a list of executive pay for 2011.
The data comes from publicly available filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 Ericsson CEO Hans VestbergTotal compensation (2011): $5,033,911 Total compensation (2010): $5,046,954 Salary: $1,738,775 Bonus (total remuneration costs): $1,245,232 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $2,052,904 Duration with the company: Since 1991 |
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Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead |
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AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega |
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 Nokia CEO Stephen Elop Total compensation (2011): $10,374,581 Total compensation (2010): $8,695,430 Salary: $1,331,947 Bonus: $617,749 Other compensation (stock awards, etc.): $8,424,885 Duration with the company: Since September 2010 |
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Sprint CEO Dan Hesse |
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Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs |
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AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson |
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Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam |
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Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown |
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Apple CEO Tim Cook |
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Did these executives deserve their pay? Do some deserve more, or less? Let us know in the comments.
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