returns downplayed by rosa beth kantor, who says many times the markets gains mask a ceo's true performance. >> we often credit ceo's as though they were geniuses, even though they may not have had that much to do with it, and they may be bankrupting the long term in order to get those short term rises. >> rising to the top spot for pay, holding on to the rank in april. pulling down $96.2 million. 24% more than in 2011, even as total shareholder return fell 22%. a disconnect criticized by yale's jeff sonnenfeld. >> we're going to wonder what the boards have been doing. >> examples like activism's robert kotech, 64.9 million is an increase from 2011. even as shareholder returns fell 12%. behind him, two men with pay cuts, even as returns for their shareholders jumped respectively. less munvez was less than 2011 pay. level three communications ceo james crow the 40.7 million. median tech companies dominating the upper end of the 2012 list of top paid ceo's, while outside stock and option grants continue to widen the pay gap between the top and bottom of the american workforce. for nightly bus