Oracle Pays (NASDAQ:ORCL), BP Stops (NYSE:BP), and Coke Lobbies (NYSE:KO)

Oracle Corporation’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) Larry Ellison tops the list of best-paid CEOs of public companies during the past decade, receiving $1.84B in total compensation, according to a WSJ analysis. Oracle's stock tripled during the decade, but the frequent disparity between CEOs' fortunes and those of their shareholders "suggests there's a fair amount of pay without performance."  Coming in No. 2 on the compensation list was Barry Diller, who received roughly $1.14 billion from IAC/InterActive and Expedia.com, the online travel site IAC spun off in 2005, where he remains chairman. – Wall Street Journal

BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) soon-to-be CEO Bob Dudley gets out of the gate with some good news, saying the Gulf well could be killed by Sunday, well ahead of schedule. He also promises the dividend will be reinstated "at some point."  "We want to restore our reputation," Dudley said on CNBC-TV.  Dudley has been overseeing the clean-up of the worst oil spill in U.S. history and will take over officially as chief executive of BP in October.  - MarketWatch

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) lobbying budget is looking pretty fizzy. The company spent almost $2.1M in Q2 lobbying the federal government, up from $1.9M in Q1 and $1.6M in the year-ago period. – NYTimes