Women CEOs earned more last year, but few were in top job

NEW YORK (AP) — Women CEOs earned big bucks last year, but there's still very few of them running the world's largest companies.

The median pay for a female CEO was $13.1 million last year, up 9 percent from 2015, according to an analysis by executive data firm Equilar and The Associated Press. By comparison, male CEOs earned $11.4 million, also up 9 percent.

But the number of women in CEO roles has barely budged. Just 6 percent of the top paid CEOs in the U.S. last year were women, according to the Equilar and AP analysis, a slight increase from about 5 percent in 2015 and 2014.

The highest paid woman was Virginia Rometty of International Business Machines Corp., bumping out Yahoo's Marissa Mayer from the top spot.

Rometty earned $32.3 million last year from the technology company, a 63 percent jump from the year before, mainly due to $12.1 million in stock option awards she didn't receive in 2015.

Mayer earned $27.4 million last year, making her the second-highest paid woman. But she may be out of a job after Yahoo Inc. completes the sale of its websites and email services to Verizon Communications Inc. in June. She's not expected to join Verizon, and Yahoo has said Mayer will receive a $23 million severance package if she departs.

Third on the list was Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo Inc., the maker of Mountain Dew soda and Lay's potato chips. She earned $25.2 million, up 13 percent from 2015. She was followed by Mary Barra, the CEO of automaker General Motors Co., who earned $22.4 million.

On the bottom of the list was Susan Story of American Water Works Co., the utility company, who earned $4.1 million.