Blackstone's chief executive officer, Stephen Schwarzman, tops the list of top 10 highest-paid executives in the U.S. last year with a staggering package of $702 million according to reports from the Corporate Library.

The reports from the independent research group said Schwarzman took home $702,440,573 in salary and stock options. The bulk of the compensation, $699.8 million, came from the vesting of equity grants he received when Blackstone went public in 2007.

Schwarzman, 62, toppled Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison, 2007's highest paid CEO and dropped to second on the list pocketing nearly $557 million. Ellison, 64, had $543 million in exercised stock options. His total compensation in 2007 was $193 million, according to the survey.

The study ranks chief executives total realized compensation, which includes cash pay and bonus, perks, plus the value of stock options exercised and the vesting of restricted shares, Greg Ruel said, a Corporate Library research associate who a co-author of the report.

The remaining positions on the list were taken by CEO's from energy companies and Abercrombie & Fitch chief executive taking tenth place.

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