It’s Good to be a CEO In South Florida… but it’s Still Better to be a Tiger

The good news is compensation for Florida CEO’s is up from what it has been in recent years according to a new report by the Miami Herald. Although Florida CEO’s aren’t amongst the top earning CEO’s nationwide, companies based in Florida have seen an increase in company earnings and CEO compensations.

Office Depot’s CEO Robert Smith is the highest earning CEO in South Florida, earning 19.6 million last year, up from the 6.8 million previous CEO Neil Austrian earned in 2011. Last year, the company merged with Office Max, and saw a 58.7 percent return on shareholder investments. Haute 100-lister Stuart Miller, CEO of Miami based Lennar, received a compensation of $13 million last year, matching the earnings of CEO’s nationwide. Although CEO’s in Florida are seeing bigger numbers than before, there is still some bad news for them — the top earners in Florida remain the star athletes and entertainers— according to Forbes LeBron earns about $72 million a year and Tiger Woods takes home a cool $78 million a year, many times what the states top-paid CEO makes.