Outside directors serving on the boards of large Fortune 1000 U.S. corporations annually earned on average $58,217 in cash plus an average of $75,499 in stock options. Most of the companies (63%) paid their outside directors an annual retainer plus a fee for every meeting attended. Directors serving on the boards of small companies usually received much less compensation (around $10,000). One study found directors of a sample of large U.S. firms to hold on average 3% of their corporations’ outstanding stock.