Puzzling over your pension statements and worried about chomping your way through this year’s tax return?

Spare a thought for poor old Sam Palmisano, chairman and CEO at IBM. AP reports that Palmisano picked up “compensation” of $18.8m this year, according to latest filings at the SEC.

AP said it arrived at the final figure by taking into account Palmisano’s salary ($1.75m) and incentive ($5m) and then adding in all those little extras – like stock equivalents, pension payments, and travel.

This may or may not have been news for Sam himself, who presumably signs off on IBM’s accounts. According to IBM’s own figures, Palmisano’s payout came to $24.46m. Either way, he is well ahead of his fellow directors, who are all scraping along on a measly $6m odd per year.®