Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC) announced today that its Chief Executive Officer Angelo Mozilo received $121.85 million in compensation and gains from exercised stock options and stock awards in 2006. Many investors are satisfied with his performance, however, as the stock gained 24% last year outpacing the 7% rise in the KBW Mortgage Finance index. The compensation itself included $89,939 for use of the company aircraft, $27,010 for a company car, $15,481 for country club costs, and $30,196 for tax and investment advice. His salary consisted of $2.87 million in salary, $19 million in option awards, $20.5 million in non-equity incentive awards, and $643,200 in other compensation. He also gained over $72 million from the exercise of over 2.3 million stock options and a $6.6 million gain from the vesting of over 170,000 shares. While all of this compensation seems excessive, as long as the performance is there many investors do not see a problem.

WalMart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) justified CEO Lee Scott's compensation after the media inquired into just how much he really deserved. According to the company's DEF14A filing with the SEC:

"Lee Scott leads the largest and most complex company in the world and has delivered strong financial performance. Last year alone, sales were up $37 billion and income from continuing operations increased by $770 million from the prior fiscal year.

Since he became CEO in 2000, annual sales have more than doubled to $345 billion and income from continuing operations has grown 126 percent to $12.2 billion. Compound annual growth rates are strong in almost every major category: net sales 12.3%, income from continuing operations 11.8%, EPS from continuing operations 12.9%.

We have maintained double-digit annual growth rates in sales and income from continuing operations, which is almost unprecedented for a company this size. More people than ever are shopping at Wal-Mart and that’s why we are once again the number one company in the Fortune 500.

More than 85 percent of our CEO’s compensation, as set by an independent board committee, is tied to the company’s financial performance. Lee Scott’s compensation is benchmarked with the CEOs of other publicly traded U.S. retailers and large companies. When compared to other companies, it is among the lowest as a percentage of annual revenue and net income.

Our associates respect that Wal-Mart has a well-recognized culture of opportunity. They are proud that their CEO started as a manager in the trucking division and has stayed with the company for 28 years. They’re also proud that his leadership -- through sustainability initiatives and the $4 prescription drug program -- reflects the company’s purpose of saving people money so they can live better."

Biogen Idec Inc. (NDAQ:BIIB) President and CEO James Mullen pulled in $12.2 million in 2006 according to a proxy statement filed with the SEC. The pay package consisted of $1.08 million in salary, $2 million in cash awards, $5.78 million in restricted stock awards, and $3.21 million in option grants. The company's stock price between now and 2006 has moved up only 3.78%; however, the company did recently report strong earnings on MS and Cancer drugs that were inline with analyst estimates.

Apple Inc. (NDAQ:AAPL) may face some increased scrutiny after Fred Anderson, the former chief financial officer of Apple, pointed the finger at Steve Jobs. The statement, which comes just after the SEC said Anderson had settled charges related to backdating in 2001, was issued by Anderson's attorney and stated simply that Jobs told Anderson that the Apple board had already signed off on the grant. In the end, Steve Jobs received a pass on any penalties while the SEC forced Anderson to pay more than $3.5 million in what the government called "ill-gotten gains" along with interest. Now given the statements by Anderson and another defendant, the SEC may continue to investigate Jobs' involvement in the backdating problems that plagued Apple.

The House voted Friday to give shareholders a voice in executive pay packages through a proxy vote at annual shareholders meetings. The bill passed 269-134 and now goes to the Senate. The White House and most Republicans shunned the bill, however, stating that the SEC has already recently taken steps to make corporate pay packages more transparent and that the government should stay away from corporate affairs. President Bush said earlier this year that while executive pay packages are sometimes extravagent, it was not a matter for the government to get involved. Whether or not this bill passes through the Senate remains to be seen; however, many are predicting that it will face a lot of opposition before going into law.

The House is set to approve a bill by the end of the week that would give shareholders greater say in CEO pay, but the bill's chances of becoming law are burdened by opposition from the White House and many business groups. The bill's chief sponsor, Barney Frank, says he wants to give shareholders an easy avenue to voice discontent over runaway executive pay. Meanwhile, the White House dismissed the bill amongst complaints from several business groups that argue it would only further burden American corporations. John Costellani of the Businesses Roundtable says its intrusive and impractical while Republicans on the hill worried that the legislation would allow labor groups to force embarrassing corporate votes. While many shareholders already have the right to vote on pay packages, this new legislation would simply mandate votes for all companies and is supported by a number of institutional investors. It remains to be seen if this bill will make progress, but it is definitely a piece of news to watch!

Citigroup (NYSE:C) shareholders narrowly lost a vote to have veto powers over pay awarded to individual executives at the world's largest bank. The rebel group vote signaled increasing discontent over executive rewards in the US. Despite the measure failing, the high turnout in favor will be seen as a severe reprimand for Citigroup's bosses, who have struggled to compete with JP Morgan and the BOA. The vote also came just days after Citigroup announced the largest one-time layoff by a Wall Street bank ever seen, with 5% of its workforce (or 17,000 jobs) slashed. More, the cut came after CEO Charles Prince was awarded a $26 million 2006 pay package. Perhaps it's no wonder why there was such a high turnout...

USA Today released its executive compensation report today that showed the top compensation for CEOs at 150 large cap companies whose fiscal year ended on or after December 15, 2006. The top 10 earners account to the report are:

1. Ray Irani (Occidental Petroleum) - $52,143,188
2. E. Stanley O'Neal (Merrill Lynch) - $46,375,347
3. Alan Mulally (Ford Motor) - $39,128,100
4. Louis Camilleri (Altria Group) - $31,677,662
5. Edward E. Whitacre Jr. (AT&T) - $31,497,742
6. Ronald A. Williams (Aetna) - $30,860,085
7. James Dimon (JPMorgan Chase) - $27,487,858
8. Brian L. Roberts (Comcast) - $27,451,276
9. James E. Rogers (Duke Energy) - $27,328,318
10. Richard M. Kovacevich (Wells Fargo) - $26,864,670

Are these amounts fair? The best way to determine that is to compare their pay with their performance. This can be done using the free tools at ExecutiveDisclosure.com which chart CEO pay versus company performance along with CEO pay versus industry CEO pay. Both metrics can help investors quickly determine if CEOs are over or under paid relative to their peers and performance.