Monday, March 27, 2000
Non-Internet CEOs paid better, survey finds
BY SHAWN NEIDORF
Knight Ridder News Service
For all the talk of big money at Internet start-ups, a new survey shows that CEOs at companies operating outside the Net world are drawing larger salaries than their counterparts at young e-companies.
For example, the median salary for a CEO who also is president of a venture-backed private company is $211,000 for a non-Internet company, while it's $200,000 at an In ternet start-up, according to a survey by VentureOne, a San Francisco-based research firm.
In January, VentureOne began querying 3,000 privately held U.S. companies that had received venture backing, and the firm has received 800 replies so far.
One thing to keep in mind about the VentureOne data: It does not include stock options. That data will be released later, VentureOne Chief Operating Officer Jean Yaremchuk said.
The picture is brighter for Internet executives at the vice president level who earn more than their non-Internet counterparts. For example, the median salary for a VP of product development is $153,000 for an Internet company, but only $129,000 for a non-Internet company.
The study also found that Northern California's entrepreneurial CEOs are making lower salaries than venture-backed CEOs in the Washington, D.C., area and the North west.
The data showed CEOs in the Washington, D.C., area have a median salary of $225,000 — $25,000 higher than Northern California CEOs. Ms. Yaremchuk noted that CEOs in that area tended to be older and more experienced, and that might be why they command bigger salaries.
Not much variance
However, CEOs in the Northwest also beat out local entrepreneurial CEOs, earning a median salary of $203,000.
The differences among most regions throughout the country aren't that big. Indeed, Northern California, Southern California, New York and the South all posted $200,000 medians. To Ms. Yaremchuk, the biggest surprise of the survey — VentureOne's first attempt to address compensation at venture-backed companies — was that salaries did not vary much across the United States. She acknowledged, however, that that could change when stock options are counted.
“At a senior level, geography tends not to exist,” said Dee DiPietro, chief executive of Advanced-HR Inc., a Saratoga company that tracks compensation at private companies.
But to Ms. DiPietro, options are a crucial component in evaluating compensation. "Until you couple it up with stock, it doesn't mean a darn thing,” she said.
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Non-Internet CEOs paid better, survey finds
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