Microsoft Corporation's (NDAQ:MSFT) Steve Ballmer is set to receive $1.28 million in total compensation for the most recent fiscal year, which includes an 86 percent increase in his bonus. The Schedule 14A proxy statement indicates that the Microsoft executive will receive a $650,000 bonus compared to $350,000 last year. Meanwhile, his salary stayed almost the same at $620,000 with an additional $10,000 in benefits-related compensation.

Interestingly, chairman Bill Gates no longer appears on Microsoft's proxy statements as he is no longer one of the three highest paid executives at Microsoft. The company noted that his pay is "substantially less" than those reported in the company's proxy.

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch revealed his executive compensation earlier this month in the company's annual Schedule 14A proxy report and some investors found it a bit surprising. Mr. Murdoch received compensation amounting to $32.1 million under the new SEC rules while also receiving $6.87 million change in his retirement package, which now sits at around $58 million. Other perks included: car-usage benefits of $11,998 and personal use of corporate aircraft valued at $337,427! Some see these numbers as clearly in excess; however, many more are quick to point out that News Corp is a well run company headed by one of the best CEO's in the country. Learn more about Rupert Murdoch's compensation by seeing specific numbers on ExecutiveDisclosure.com.

Executive compensation has been getting a lot of negative press lately but there are cases where high compensation is appropriate. Executive taking part in a spin-off are one of these instances of higher-than-average compensation yet also an instance of long-term outperformance by the stock!

Spin-offs are simply instances where a company divests an existing operating segment by taking it public on the NYSE or NASDAQ. The management teams running these new public companies are often the subordinates to executives running the parent company and therefore are less experienced. However, they are taking on a greater risk by running a spin-off as it has no track record and is often much smaller than the parent company.

Typically, executives of spin-offs are granted higher-than-normal options packages designed to incentivize management to take advantage of the proceeds and synergies obtained from the spin-off process. Despite the higher pay packages, spin-offs have been shown by several studies to outperform the overall stock market during their first two years in existance. This is attributable to several factors, but perhaps the most influencial are the synergies that executives capitalize on.

Another Labor Day has come and gone and executive pay remains excessive despite several new government measures to curb the trends. The minimum wage hike to $5.85 per hour is still seven percent less in real dollars than the minimum wage 10 years ago. Meanwhile, executive compensation is up 45 percent over the same period. Nowadays, executives make more money in one day than the average American worker makes in one year. Clearly, corporate boards are not widely trying to curb compensation while new regulations have only forced executives to take compensation in other forms. Whether or not 2008 will bring any meaningful changes remains to be seen, but for now, there is still much work that needs to be done.