Median CEO Pay Rises to $9.7-Million in 2012

CEO pay has been going in one direction for the past three years: up.

The head of a typical large public company made $9.7 million in 2012, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

That's according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from the executive pay research firm Equilar.

CEO pay has never been higher. It fell two years straight during the Great Recession but rose 24 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011.

Pay is up partly because a bigger proportion is coming from stock, and stock markets are hitting all-time highs.

The highest paid CEO last year was Leslie Moonves of CBS, who made $60.3 million. Five of the 10 highest-paid CEOs were from the entertainment and media industry.

Health care CEOs received the highest median pay at $11.1 million, while utility CEOs had the lowest at $7.5 million.

The median wage in the U.S. was about $39,900 in 2012, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)