Newcomer Is No. 1; Apple's Jobs Falls to 99

Talk about executive shuffles.

Apple Computer Inc. boss Steve Jobs, who topped the Los Angeles Times' executive pay survey last year, is next to last on the new list after his compensation plunged from $74.8 million to just $1.

That's barely enough to download one song on an iPod. But according to federal filings, Jobs still owns 10 million shares of the Cupertino, Calif., computer and gadget maker -- worth about $406 million at Friday's market close -- so he probably won't be singing "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" anytime soon.

The Apple co-founder was No. 1 in last year's survey thanks to restricted stock grants he got in 2003 through what the company's board labeled "a new retention and incentive plan."

Despite Apple's banner year in 2004 -- when its share price more than tripled -- Jobs did not get any additional stock grants. A company spokesman declined to comment, but Apple tends to dole out such stock grants only occasionally. The 2003 grant was the first for Jobs in five years.

The Times annual survey, conducted by Aon Consulting's EComp Data Services, examines pay packages at California's 100 largest public companies, then ranks the executives based on what they reaped in the latest fiscal year.

The latest leading breadwinner, Terry Semel of Yahoo Inc., wasn't on last year's list because the Web portal's revenue wasn't sufficient to qualify it as one of the biggest companies. But the Sunnyvale firm's sales more than doubled in 2004, vaulting its CEO and his $144.9-million pay package to the head of the class.

Among other newcomers to the list:

* Charles G. "Chase" Carey, new boss at El Segundo satellite TV service DirecTV Group Inc., scored $33.5 million last year (the majority in restricted stock) to burst into the top 10. DirecTV didn't make last year's list because it was a unit of General Motors Corp. until December 2003, when it was split off and News Corp. bought a 34% slice to become the largest shareholder.

Carey, a former executive at News Corp., was rewarded for brisk subscriber growth as DirecTV focused on its key direct-to-home business, shedding stakes in PanAmSat, Hughes Software Systems and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.

DirecTV, formerly known as Hughes Electronics Corp., is the No. 1 satellite TV provider with more than 14 million subscribers. But analysts note that its revenue growth -- fueled by programming, equipment discounts and other promotions -- has come at a cost. Last year, DirecTV's net loss widened to $1.41 a share from 26 cents the year before.