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How Is It Possible That Motorola's New CEO Earned The Highest Salary Of All CEO's In 2008?

According to a survey recently conducted by the New York Times, Motorola's new CEO, Sanjay Jha, took home the biggest paycheck -- a startling $104 million. While most of it came in stock options, it is striking because of Motorola's complete flame-out over the course of the last two years.

Really? Sanjay Jha? From Motorola?

Of the $104.4 million in total earnings reaped by Jha, fully $103.6 of its came from stock options. That means an actual salary of about $700,000. Jha's total income beat out the closest competitor, Oracle's Larry Ellison, by $20 million. Gregory Brown, Jha's co-CEO at Motorola, had a pay package of $24.2 million -- just one-quarter of Jha's total.

The survey was about executive pay in general. It notes that the financial industry saw pay packages drop by about 40% in 2008, while technology saw executive pay rise by 10%. In total, the average pay for 200 CEO's at the country's largest public companies drop by 5.1% in 2008 to $10.8 million.

While it isn't a surprise to see a tech company pay its top executive well, it's a surprise to see Motorola in this list at all. Motorola has had a tough two years, with both sales and its market share dropping like stones. It hasn't had a real hit device in years, and Jha didn't join Motorola until August.

Motorola turned in some pretty severe financial reports for the fourth quarter of 2008, as well as the whole year (partly because of Jha's pay package). The company laid off thousands of employees in January. Given the company's performance, you'd not expect such a windfall for its CEO.

If I were a Motorola shareholder (heck, or former employee), I'd be asking some tough questions right about now.

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