Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook easily had the highest compensation for the CEO of a large American company in 2011, a study has found, with a one-time restricted stock award giving him nearly five times the remuneration as the man just behind him on the list, Oracle's (ORCL) Larry Ellison.

Cook obtained the chief executive's seat in August last year, when the Cupertino company's cofounder, Steve Jobs, stepped down as he suffered from cancer; Jobs died in October. Apple awarded Cook 100 million restricted share units, which were then worth $376.2 million. At Friday's closing price, the shares would be worth more than $530 million.

Atop his $900,000 annual salary and equal incentives, Cook's total compensation of slightly less than $378 million easily topped the annual Wall Street Journal/Hay Group survey of CEO compensation by the 300 largest public U.S. companies, as judged by revenue.

The shares are tightly restricted -- Cook can sell half after 2016 and the other half after 2021 -- and were meant to be compensation for

a decade's worth of work, Apple said in its proxy statement with the federal government detailing the compensation. It is the highest annual compensation since the SEC changed its rules regarding executive compensation in 2006, the Journal reported.

The second-highest compensation on the list belongs to a man who does not receive an annual salary -- Oracle cofounder and CEO Larry Ellison. In 2011, Ellison received a bonus of $13.3 million and stock options worth $62.7 million, putting his total compensation at $76 million. It is the third consecutive year Ellison has placed second on the list, the Journal reported.

Rounding out the top five were CBS CEO Les Moonves, at $69.3 million; JC Penney CEO Ronald Johnson, at $53.3 million; and Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha, at $46.6 million. Jha is expected to be relieved of his duties once Mountain View search giant Google's (GOOG) $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility receives final approval.

Only one other Silicon Valley tech company's CEO made the top 50 of the list: Intel's (INTC) Paul Otellini came in at No. 49, with total compensation of $16.7 million. Two other Bay Area companies made the top 50, with San Francisco-based Wells Fargo providing CEO John Stumpf $17.9 million for a rank of 42, and San Ramon-based Chevron right behind at 43 thanks to CEO John Watson's compensation package of $17.86 million.

The Wall Street Journal and Hay Group -- a management consulting firm -- produced the study for the fifth year in a row, relying on proxy statements provided to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The study combines direct compensation, such as salary and bonuses, with long-term incentives, such as stock options.

Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.