Top Total Compensation Oracle chief Larry Ellison was the best paid among our group of 501 chief executives, with total 2001 compensation of $706 million. All of Ellison's compensation came from exercising stock options.

Lowest Total Compensation Kinder Morgan's Chief Executive Richard Kinder is the lowest paid among Forbes 500s executives. The head of the Houston-based energy concern paid himself just $1 in 2001 and his three-year total compensation totaled only $8,000.

Average Compensation Average total CEO compensation in 2001 was $9.7 million, down 7% from 2000. Average salary plus bonus was off 13% to $2.2 million

Just A Jet Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, had the highest salary plus bonus in 2001. Jobs' pay was also the most unusual: The billionaire CEO didn't take a conventional salary, but Apple's board bought him a Gulfstream V jet valued at $44 million. They also paid the taxes on the jet, bringing Jobs' total compensation to $84 million.

The Dollar-A-Year Club Five chief executives on the Forbes 500s took less than $1 in salary and bonus in 2001. Of course, a nonexistent salary doesn't mean that these executives aren't profiting handsomely in other ways--Oracle's Larry Ellison, this year's top paid chief executive, for instance, didn't take any salary or bonus in 2001. The other $1-per-year men were Conseco's Gary Wendt, Kinder Morgan's Richard Kinder, Fox Entertainment's Rupert Murdoch and John W. Creighton Jr., head of UAL, United Airlines' parent corporation.

About That Raise... Last year, 166 chief executives, or 33% of the total, took pay cuts, while 67%, or 335 CEOs, got raises or saw their compensation remain unchanged.

The Billionaire Club Twenty-six of the CEOs hold company stock worth more than $1 billion. These executives' stock holdings account for 86% of the total market value of company stock held by the entire group of 501 chief executives

Top Heavy The richest ten chief executives, in terms of company stock holdings, have stock valued at $109 billion, accounting for 68% of the total market value of company stock held by the group. The top five CEOs' market holdings are worth $85 billion, 53% of the group's total.

The Best Of Times Four chief executives--Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffet, Nike's Philip Knight, USA Networks' Barry Diller and Fox's Rupert Murdoch--saw the value of their company stock increase by more than $1 billion in 2001.

The Worst Of Times Oracle's Larry Ellison and AES Chief Executive Dennis Bakke saw the market value of their holdings shrink by more than $1 billion last year.

Shareholder Value A full 75% of Forbes 500s CEOs have beaten the broader market in terms of total return to their shareholders over their tenure.