While salaries of top tech company CEOs may alarm most purists, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and founder of worlds most popular social networking website, Facebook, draws a measly salary of $1 per year. Yes, you heard it right. While there are many CEO’s who have announced a token $1 salary per year but take home stock options and other bonuses, Zuckerberg has denied himself any bonus, new stock options or new equity awards from Facebook. In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg announced that he is giving up his salary and will only be drawing $1 per year in the capacity of Facebook’s CEO. While answering a question in one of his Q&A; sessions on Facebook he said: Ever since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, there has been a growing trend among CEO’s to take a token $1 salary per year. Others CEOs who draw a base pay of $1 are Hewlett-Packard’s Meg Whitman, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Google co-founder Larry Page. The story behind the $1 salary package per year comes from the times of World War I. When the wars sagged the US economy, many businesses came forward to help US government mobilise and run the American industries. Since the US law does not allow the government to deploy people who give services for free, the concept of $1 salary was born. They were paid a nominal salary of $1 ratifying their legal employment with the government.
