Larry Ellison, the chief executive at Oracle, pulled in a cool 92 million pounds in exercised stock earnings in addition to salary last year. Howard D. Schultz, CEO of Starbucks scored a salary plus stock options that topped 50 million pounds.

AC Milan’s Kaka is expected to gross (only?) 7.5 million pounds this year, and chances are the aforementioned chief executives will be spending more time at the top of their careers than the footballer. Physical ability tends to peak at some point, while CEO salaries…don’t.

It’s a competitive corporate market, and CEOs are the new celebrities. These demigods of commerce are usually made up of a face, a known name, and a paycheck that sparks shareholder controversy.

Studies suggest that the share value of a company can be correlated to the “value” of its chief executive officer. This is part of what nailed Nardelli, the highly criticised former CEO of Home Depot. Yet despite Nardelli’s short, less than shiny record at the head of that somewhat shaky ship, the man got a sweet send-off to the tune of 210 million US dollars, over 106 million pounds. Now that is heavy censorship.

CEOs are more and more the superstar, scapegoat, and celebrity of the modern corporation. They trade in trust and infamy, linking their own reputations to the firms they represent. A lot of the value of a CEO is tied up in his visibility. One has to wonder, who’s the buzziest of the big business men, and in relation to which topics? And just how is that affecting share price? Or company brands and products?

At Attentio, measurement is underway…

Wall Street, famous for its Bull markets (that go up) is experiencing a bit of a Bear market.

A “Bear Market” is what they call a pessimistic market. The expression, ironically, has nothing to do with JP Morgan and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s contraversial bailout for the sinking investment firm, Bear Stearns. Bear Sterns (used to) provide lines of credit to subprime lenders in the US. This explains why Bear Sterns is now seeking (and receiving, to the consternation of some analysts) a two-pronged nudge from two of the Bulls still active on Wall Street.

The idea is to stave off the “ripple effect” of another firm flailing in the turbulent tides of the current economy. Combined with the Bush “trickle down” economic policies, it’s obvious the United States is trying to steady a very shaky financial float. European and Asian financial and political leaders are also sending out aids and advice, responding to the American SOS before the rough waters spread.

But online, people are still trading–stock that is, not economic mishaps. Online trading sans the professional broker is catching on, and sites like Zecco and thinkorswim are earning reputations for low cost and accessibility. Sentiment seems to suggest that if the big guys can play, why can’t we?

As blogs and columns proliferate the financial pages of the Internet offering advice and suggestions about what to buy, when and where, there is no lack of data for use (or misuse) by curious Internet users. A funny thing about a bad economy, losing is so ubiquitous that it becomes less of an issue–its winning that counts. So while the Bears and Bulls on Wall Street may be holding their breath, this as yet tiny online trend suggests that not everyone is submerged in doubt.