Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs, rah rah rah! That's right, folks, we're in full-on cheerleader mode for Big Steve, because we're not sure he's been getting enough praise lately, and our researchers have reason to believe that his Reality Distortion Field is powered by raw ego. (Explains a lot, doesn't it?) Since we all know that Apple's continued success and growth are hugely dependent on Steve being able to bend mere mortals to his every whim, we always try to do our part by sending the Magic Happy Vibes Cupertinoward. It's the least we can do to keep our platform healthy, short of expending any actual effort or anything.

It looks like we can probably take a breather for a little while, though, because faithful viewer A.T. Stefansky pointed out that the San Francisco Chronicle is dishing out the kudos in full force right now: the paper has officially named Steve Jobs "The Chronicle 200's CEO of the year." Why, you ask? (Oooh, so negative all the time. You should take more vitamin C or something.) Well, it's not just because he's keeping Apple profitable. The Chron picked Steve for the honor "because he excelled at running two companies." Remember that Pixar thingy? The company that make movies about cowboys and clown fish? Right. Whereas plenty of CEOs drop the ball when running even one company, somehow Steve manages to juggle two and keep them growing.

Congrats to Steve for the honor, and yay for the Chronicle for having such good taste (and keeping the RDF fires stoked and roaring)-- but we're a little surprised that, in addition to playing up how one man is running two profitable and innovative companies that are "helping to reshape some industries," it didn't mention just how little those companies are paying for his magic. Oh, sure, you get all these articles about how Steve is the CEO Overcompensation Poster Child because he's occasionally been given aircraft or enough stock options to crush a tank, but if you apply the principles of "what have you done for me lately?" and "now now NOW," it actually looks like Apple and Pixar each retained the best CEO in the business last year for dirt cheap.

Way back in March we wondered how much Steve makes from his gig at Pixar, and faithful viewer Shane was kind enough to look it up from the company's annual report. In 2003 Steve scored $52 for running Pixar, which is a whopping buck a week compared to his buck a year from Apple. All together, the guy's pulling down $53 a year for heading up two incredibly influential companies. Now, we know what you're going to say, "stock options," "jets," "free Taster's Choice in the executive break room," yadda yadda yadda. But here's the thing: we don't know about Pixar, but according to the Associated Press, the $75 million in stock Steve got from Apple last year can't even be sold until 2006, and since we're live-for-the-moment types down here, that stock might as well be Monopoly money. In straight-up, actual spend-it-now paychecks, Steve made $53 last year for running both companies. Make no mistake, the man works cheap.

Which brings us to the little matter of a job offer. Hey, Steve: we really need a babysitter Friday night. How'd you like to make six months' dual-CEO pay in just one evening? Think about it. Oh, and can you juggle? Balls, that is, not companies. She really likes that.