While not surprising by any means, it's still worth noting new research that quantifies what we would all suspect to be true: Bosses at big companies bank bigger bucks the more vigorously they wield the payroll ax.
From a story on CIO.com:
New research from the Institute for Policy Studies shows a direct correlation between compensation (in particular, CEO compensation) and layoffs. The CEOs who oversaw the largest layoffs at their companies during the recession earned more money in 2009-42 percent more-than their peers at S&P 500 firms.
The Institute for Policy Studies' data (.pdf) demonstrates that the larger the layoffs a CEO oversees inside his company, the more money he will make.
Former HP boss Mark Hurd makes the list for having bagged $24.2 million last year while firing 6,400 workers, many of whom presumably got a good chuckle out of Hurd's own abrupt exit last month.