Buffett's '08 salary: $100,000; compensation: $175,000

NEW YORK -- The world's second-richest man, Warren Buffett, wasn't even the highest paid employee at his company last year. That distinction belonged once again to Berkshire Hathaway's chief financial officer Marc Hamburg.

Buffett, CEO of the company, received a total of $175,000 in compensation in 2008, the same amount he received a year earlier, according to regulatory filing made Friday.

His base salary remained at $100,000, the same level it's been for more than 25 years. He picked up an additional $75,000 for director's fees from some outside companies in which Berkshire has significant investments. That pay did not change from 2007 either.

Buffett, one of the most successful investors of all time, has been an outspoken critic of lavish executive compensation packages at other companies. In keeping with that philosophy, his own company doesn't award large pay packages or give out perks or stock options.

Most of the things the Associated Press includes in its executive compensation calculations don't exist at Berkshire, including bonuses, performance-related bonuses, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

While Buffett's pay remained unchanged, his net worth tumbled along with the worsening economy and stock market. Buffett fell from his perch as the world's richest person, according to Forbes magazine's annual list of billionaires, which was published earlier this week.

Forbes valued Buffet's net worth at $37 billion, $25 billion less than just a year earlier when the magazine estimated he was worth $62 billion.

Along with Buffett's declining net worth, Berkshire Hathaway's profit slid in 2008. For the full year, Berkshire's net income fell to $4.99 billion, from $13.21 billion in 2007.