Average CEO Pay Sinks to $9.5M

Pity the poor CEO in this recession: average compensation for the honchos in the largest publicly traded companies in the US has sunk to a mere $9.53 million. That's down 15% over the previous year. Some CEOs have fared decidedly better than others. Oracle CEO Larry Ellsion topped this year's rankings with $84.5 million in compensation. The news comes amid continuing public fury over outsized rewards for company leaders, particularly at firms that have received healthy taxpayer bailouts, Reuters notes.