A $55.6 million payday

Forget about sports or show business - if you want to make the really big bucks, just stick with oil. L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum released its latest proxy today and Chairman and CEO Ray Irani, consistently among Socal's highest-paid executives, received a pay package last year totalling $55.6 million, down from 2005's $80.7 million. Here's how the 2006 pay day breaks out: stock awards valued at $31 million, options awards valued at $17.4 million, salary ($1.3 million), bonus ($1.4 million), long-term incentive bonus ($1.4 million), and increased pension value ($679,000). But wait, there's more - $562,589 for security services, $556,470 for financial planning and tax preparation services (you've got to be kidding me!), and supplemental retirement plan contributions ($652,890). Last year, he was the sixth-highest paid CEO and yet Forbes ranked him only 108th out of 189 CEOs in terms of performance vs. pay. Don't expect Irani to engage such matters; he almost never speaks to the press.