Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of software firm Oracle, was the top earning U.S. chief executive during the past decade.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday released a list of the 25 highest paid CEOs in the U.S. from 1999 to 2009 based on salaries, bonuses, perks and realized gains on both restricted stock and stock options.

Ellison raked in US$1.84 billion over the 10 years. The majority of his earnings came from exercising stock options ($1.78 billion), while his salary ($6.7 million) and bonuses ($41.6 million) accounted for less than 3 percent of the total.

From left, Larry Ellison, Barry Diller, and Ray Irani

At No. 2 with $1.14 billion was Barry Diller, CEO of IAC/InterActive which owns travel website Expedia. He also earned most of his income ($1.1 billion) from stock options.

Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum came third with $857.1 million, followed by Apple chief Steve Jobs ($748.8 million), and Capital One Financial's Richard Fairbank ($568.5 million).

Despite earning an annual salary of just $1 since 1997 when he returned to lead Apple, Jobs ranked near the top thanks to a $646.6 million gain on restricted stock that he received in 2003.

The top five CEOs have been at the helm of their respective companies for the last decade and, with the exception of Irani, are all founders.