Mark Zuckerberg Claims Salary And Bonus Pay Reduced To Minimum

In a recent SEC filing, it was discovered that Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg will only be taking a $1 salary this year. He will also be rejecting any potential bonuses he may receive this year as well. While the SEC filing confirms that he will only be making a dollar this year, Zuckerberg first revealed he would be taking a dollar salary in Facebook's IPO filing.

Last year, Zuckerberg made about half a million dollars, and with his bonus, he made about 3/4 of a million dollars. But Zuckerberg isn't working pretty much for free for no reason. He has an incentive to do so. He currently holds 60 million stock options that are currently worth 6 cents a piece. By only being paid a buck, he has more incentive to work and build up Facebook's financial value.

Many other CEOs have reduced their salaries to a single dollar before. While they only get a dollar in the form of a salary, they are rewarded in other ways, including bonuses and stock options. Steve Jobs reduced his salary to a dollar back when he rejoined Apple in 1998, but he received stock grants in return (which he stopped taking after 2003). Google's Larry page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt all reduced their salaries to $1 back in 2005.

Other notable figures include Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, Oracle's Larry Ellison, Capital One's Richard Fairbank, Chrysler's Lee Iacocca, Zynga's Mark Pincus, and HP's Meg Whitman. Most of these CEOs obtain bonuses or stock options (which could be exempt from a portion of payroll taxes). By being paid through stock options, its believed that these CEOs would increase their work performance, because how much they get paid is equal to how well their companies do.

[via Business Insider]