"Median pay reached $12.1 million for CEOs of the biggest U.S. companies in 2017, a new post-recession high, as profits and stock prices soared," reports the Wall Street Journal.

The details: "Most S&P 500 CEOs received raises of 9.7% or better last year," and "CEOs at pharmaceutical, media, technology and financial firms dominated the WSJ’s pay ranking, taking 16 of the 25 top spots."

"Here are the highest-paid CEOs of 2017, excluding those who came or went during the year":

1. Hock Tan, Broadcom, $103.2 million
2. Les Moonves, CBS, $69.3 million
3. W. Nicholas Howley, Transdigm, $61 million
4. Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner, $49 million
5. Stephen Kaufer, TripAdvisor, $47.9 million

"Lowest paid ... There were 26 CEOs in the S&P 500 making $5 million or less last year. Three of the lowest paid, Larry Page, Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos, are billionaire founders":

1. Larry Page, Alphabet, $1
2. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, $100,000
3. Steven Kean, Kinder Morgan, $382,000
4. John Roberts, J.B. Hunt, $859,000
5. Jeff Bezos, Amazon, $1.7 million

"Women ran 25 of the S&P 500 companies at some point during 2017, down from 26 the prior year. Those on the job at least a year tended to make more than men, with half earning at least $14 million":

1. Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo, $31.1 million
2. Debra Cafaro, Ventas, $25.3 million
3. Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin, $22.9 million
4. Mary Barra, GM, $22 million
5. Phebe Novakovic, General Dynamics, $21.5 million

See the lists.