NEW YORK -- CEOs are taking a hit from the recession -- less total compensation, smaller bonuses, nearly worthless stock options - - but their companies are already making adjustments that could mean fatter paychecks in the future.

An Associated Press analysis shows the median pay package for CEOs of companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 7 percent to $7.6 million in 2008.

Some companies bucked the trend, however. Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., topped the AP list with a total package of $112.5 million, even though his company's stock price fell nearly 60 percent last year.

It was the first time since AP started analyzing CEO pay three years ago that anyone topped $100 million.

McClendon's total was inflated by a $75 million bonus he received Dec. 31 as part of a new employment contract. He owns a stake in some of the company's wells, and the company said his bonus payment will go toward his portion of the cost of developing and maintaining them.

The bonus came two months after McClendon was forced to sell more than 31 million shares of Chesapeake stock -- valued at $550 million and down from a peak of $2.2 billion only three months earlier -- to cover bank demands for repayment of loans. The huge sale helped further drive down the stock price last fall.

Chesapeake said in regulatory filings that McClendon's overall pay reflects his role "in shaping the vision for the company and growing it into the largest independent producer of U.S. natural gas."

But across corporate America, the potential for CEOs to take more hits to their pocketbooks could grow if stock prices don't rebound. One clue: 90 percent of the $1.2 billion in CEO stock options granted last year are "under water," meaning the current stock price is too low to yield a profit, the AP analysis shows.

Boards already are trying to cushion the blow. The AP found that some have changed the rules to make it easier for executives to qualify for bonuses. Others are doling out more stock options, which give executives the right to buy shares in the future at prices locked in today.

Other findings in the AP's analysis:

Four of every five CEOs took home a cash bonus, despite the fact that the stock prices of the companies in the survey fell by an average 36 percent and profits fell 31 percent.

The median payout in cash for salary and bonuses fell 20 percent from a year earlier to $2.4 million. But that's still 48 times what the average U.S. worker makes, based on the most recent government figures.

Of the 10 CEOs who took the biggest pay cuts last year, four were leaders of financial services companies.