IT Management: Yahoo, Novell, Sprint, Motorola Execs Overpaid: Report

Yahoo, Novell, Sprint and Motorola are some of the tech companies that topped research firm Glass Lewis & Co.'s 2010 "Pay Dirt" report—for overpaying their executives relative to company performance. The report's "Overpaid 25" lists companies whose "compensation programs and policies—have failed to effectively link executive pay with company performance." In other words, executives who earned millions while their units failed to perform, or their stock price dipped. "Glass Lewis believes that year-after-year underperformance warrants significant action in order to rectify the issues that are plaguing the company and contributing to its lackluster performance," reads the report. However, some of the "Overpaid 25" companies have appeared on that list in previous years. Although its revenue numbers continue to be robust, Oracle was cited by the report as a company whose executives receive particularly high compensation. Glass Lewis also included an "Underpaid 25" list, whose executives receive minimal compensation relative to their companies' robust performances. Those executives included Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. Overall, though, technology companies constituted a small percentage of both lists.