FEELING bad about how much you have been hurt by the stock market plunge? At least you don’t have a lot of stock options.

A survey of the paper losses
suffered by 175 chief executives of American companies shows that they
lost a total of $52.3 billion through Oct. 27, when the stock market
hit lows that were tested this week.

To be sure, $15.9 billion, or nearly a third of the total amount, was lost by the richest man in America, Warren E. Buffett, whose stock in Berkshire Hathaway was still worth $45.8 billion.

The
survey, by Steven Hall and Partners, a compensation consulting firm,
looked at the reported holdings of stock and stock options by chief
executives of the Fortune 200 companies — generally the companies with
the most sales in the country, both at the end of the company’s most
recent fiscal year and at the close on Oct. 27. Executives whose
companies have been acquired, or who have announced retirement dates,
were excluded, leaving 175 bosses.

The bulk of the loss went to a
handful of chief executives who were also company founders, and
therefore owned a lot of stock. On average, the richest 10 percent of
bosses — just 18 people — lost $2.2 billion each. That was only a 33
percent drop, however, leaving them with much smaller losses on a
proportional basis than their less-wealthy colleagues.

For those
executives whose company holdings were largely in stock options, rather
than stock, the decline in wealth has been huge. Options allow holders
to buy shares at a fixed price, and thereby multiply profits on the way
up. But options also multiply losses on the way down. Over all, the
options have lost 76 percent of their value.

These losses are far
more widespread than in the last bear market, the one that ended in
2002. Then the biggest declines were in a handful of industries. But
this year, the losses have hit virtually every company. And of course,
they have hit executives down the ranks.

The Hall survey also covered chief financial officers, who have lost 54 percent of their wealth in their company’s securities.

The
accompanying chart looks at the average wealth of chief executives in
three groups. Besides the top group, the others are the 10 percent of
chief executives with the smallest wealth before the plunge — who
suffered losses of 59 percent, and the 80 percent in the middle, whose
holdings are down 55 percent.

The figures do not show total
wealth, of course, because they do not reflect holdings of other
securities or of real estate, although it is likely that those holdings
have also lost value. Nor do the figures reflect any money the bosses
might owe. Those who borrowed against the value of their securities may
be hurting much more than the figures indicate.

The members of
the poorest group are still well off, and still have high-paying jobs.
But at least two of them no longer have securities in their companies
worth $1 million, the Hall computations indicate.

The charts show
the value of four types of holdings — company stock that is owned
outright; shares that have not yet vested, but will do so in future
years; options that could have been exercised but were not; and options
that have not yet vested. The unvested securities will vest if the
executive remains with the company or, in some cases, if performance
targets are met. The option values shown reflect the profit that would
be realized if the executive executed the option and sold the stock.

Until
the last seven or eight years, restricted stock was a relatively rare
part of compensation packages. But after the scandals of 2001, options
were criticized for giving executives an incentive to take risks, since
there was a disproportionate gain to be made from a rapidly rising
price. That led to more use of restricted stock, and executives should
be grateful for that.

All told, the 175 chief executives had
restricted stock worth $2.9 billion, and options worth $4.8 billion, at
the end of their fiscal years. By Oct. 27, the figures were $1.6
billion and $1.2 billion.

Add the decline of high-paying Wall
Street jobs, and this may be a glum holiday season at those retailers
who cater to the well-off.