The $1 pay for chief executives is becoming increasingly popular amongst public companies, but is it really anything more than a symbol? Last year, eight CEOs serving in S&P500 companies received the token pay while eight other CEOs in smaller companies also took the plunge. The most popular are Eric Schmidt of Google and Steve Jobs from Apple. Ironically, however, Steve Jobs received the highest compensation out of all public company CEOs last year when his stock options, grants, bonuses and other benefits were factored in. Meanwhile, Google executives continue to sell stock at a high rate - often millions of dollars worth on a daily basis!

To their credit, these CEOs appear to be embracing the pay for performance model more than others. This hasn't been a problem for them, however, since their stocks have been performing extremely well. Whether or not they would embrace a similar policy if their companies were in the process of a restructuring or turnaround is questionable according to many pay analysts. AFL-CIO director Daniel Pedrotty said, "The gesture looks all warm and fuzzy, but it's a facade. It obscures the real number of what an executive gets and in that sense is an insult to investors' intelligence. In the case of Apple it's even more serious amid allegations of options fraud."

Whether or not more executives embrace this model remains to be seen; however, many analysts and investors are convinced that the move is nothing more than an act amongst companies that have exceptional stock performance.