SmartMoney writer Daren Fonda combed through SEC>/b> filings to see how much executives of the top 10 publicly traded asset management firms pocketed last year and found that the average pay package came in at $12.7 million, representing a dip of about 5 percent from 2006. Not everyone received thinner paychecks, of course. For example, T. Rowe Price's James Kennedy took home $7.7 million, a 36 percent increase; and Lew Sanders of AllianceBernstein got $22.1 million, up 12 percent.
Fonda gave a special mention to a fund chief whose company wasn't in the top 10 -- GAMCO's Mario Gabelli, who received $70.9 million, a 22 percent jump from the previous year.