You shouldn't be outraged, but your justification for their pay is a little simplified. People aren't paid based on the value they create, strictly speaking. T

You shouldn't be outraged, but your justification for their pay is a little simplified. People aren't paid based on the value they create, strictly speaking. They're paid whatever is necessary to get them to work. The value of a good executive is, I'd argue, far higher than their pay reflects. A truly bad executive can put a company on the path to ruin, and a decent executive making bad choices can do the same. What companies are paying for in good/great executives isn't some N times multiplier on that salary in new income, they're paying for reduced chances of catastrophe. The supply of good/great executives is small, and the potential loss from putting a dunce in charge of AAPL/GOOG is obscene, so is it any wonder the price lands where it does?