Oracle CEO to Earn Just One Dollar

With everyone angry over bonuses paid to the executives of financial firms, Silicon Valley CEOs can point to their one-dollar-a-year salaries if the hordes ever show up with torches and pitchforks.

The latest tech honcho to join the club that includes the founders of Google and Apple's CEO Steve Jobs is Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, who was paid a mere $1 million last year and will be paid $999,999 less this year.

Of course, that won't exactly lose Ellison his spot in the lineup of world's richest men -- it's easy to work for peanuts when you're worth an estimated $25 billion.

In fact, Ellison was criticized by investors when he minted over half a billion dollars in a sale of options granted to him by Oracle.

Why do Valley executives take chump change for a daily wage? Because the marginal rate on capital gains like stock transactions is much, much lower than that on personal income.

Jackson West knows better than to think Ellison would do anything but tend to his self-interest.