Undercover zillionaires

Microsoft COO B. Kevin Turner

Title: COO

Company: Microsoft (MSFT)

CEO: Steven A. Ballmer

Pay difference: $6.7 million

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer finished the company's 2010 fiscal year with an ownership stake of nearly 5%. Thanks to that multibillion-dollar stock stash, he can afford to pass up additional equity grants, which kept his total pay for the year at a comparatively modest $1.3 million. All of Microsoft's other top executives out-earned him.

COO Kevin Turner scored the biggest cash bonus -- nearly $2 million -- and the biggest total payout. Microsoft praised his group's "superb sales results" for the year and "record levels" of customer satisfaction. --S.C.

Source: Equilar, Inc.

NEXT: David S. Chernow, $7.9 million

Methodology: Total compensation is calculated as the sum of base salary, discretionary and performance-based cash bonuses, the grant-date fair value for stock and option awards during the fiscal year, and other compensation like earnings on deferred compensation, benefits and perks. Equilar, an executive compensation research firm, looked at CEOs at 1,000 of the largest public U.S. companies as measured by revenue. Pay data based on companies' fiscal year end of Dec. 2010 unless otherwise noted. Cash compensation and stock and options increases may not add up exactly to total compensation increases due to rounding.

By Stacy Cowley and James O'Toole @CNNMoney - Last updated January 06 2012: 5:23 PM ET

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Undercover zillionaires