Buffett received $175,000 in SSRq08

NEW YORK (AP) — The world’s second-richest man, Warren Buffett, wasn’t even the highest-paid employee at Berkshire Hathaway’s 19-person headquarters again last year.

Buffett, chairman and CEO of the Omaha, Neb.-based company, received $175,000 in compensation in 2008, the same amount he received a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing made Friday.

Berkshire’s chief financial officer, Marc Hamburg, earned the highest-paid distinction in company headquarters. But even Hamburg’s pay is almost certainly less than CEOs of some of Berkshire’s subsidiaries such as Geico, MidAmerican Energy and Berkshire Reinsurance. The salaries of executives at subsidiaries aren’t disclosed.

Buffett’s base salary remained at $100,000, the same level it’s been for more than 25 years. He picked up an additional $75,000 for director’s fees from some outside companies in which Berkshire has significant investments. That pay did not change from 2007 either.

Buffett, one of the most successful investors of all time, has been an outspoken critic of lavish executive compensation packages at other companies. In keeping with that philosophy, his own company doesn’t award large pay packages or give out perks or stock options.