The warm fuzzies run deep when one is treated to images of CEOs so committed to their companies that they are willing to forgo their annual salaries. Get over it!

Whether they're doing it for free or simply drawing the token buck, it's an honorable yet ultimately deceptive practice.

Sure, Cisco's (NASDAQ:CSCO) John Chambers cut his own salary down to a dollar last year and gave back some of his stock options. Still, he retained 4 million options granted earlier in the fiscal year. Yes, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Pixar (NASDAQ:PIXR) fame will work for a buck, too, but he also has significant stakes in his companies.

That makes the seemingly noble gesture of overhead shaving an ultimate moneymaker if you can get paid in capital appreciation.

So who cares if Oracle's (NASDAQ:ORCL) Larry Ellison is no longer a free bird? After four years of going without an annual salary, he's back on the Oracle payroll this month. Big deal. He was granted 900,000 options over the summer and had collected a whopping 40 million stock options when he decided to eschew his regular paychecks. He also owns more than a quarter of the $70 billion company he runs.

He's earned it, too. While the stock would have to more than triple to hit its 2000 peak, Ellison has managed to steer Oracle through some very challenging business environments aptly, squeezing out refreshingly nice profit margins along the way.

So do us all a favor and let us know if you ever run across a CEO who is working for free at a company that doesn't grant options and where no financial stake exists.

Don't lose any sleep over that challenge. Besides, if you do find one, you're probably dreaming anyway.

Does it matter whether the country's second-largest software maker is paying its CEO an annual salary or not? Is Larry Ellison a genius or simply a legend in his own mind? How long will it take for Oracle to get back to its 2000 high? All this and more -- in the Oracle discussion board . Only on Fool.com.