The fundamental reason why sales people are paid more than the Devs and the CEO more than Sales simply comes out of the difference in the knowledge of how much they know of the product's worth. The Dev never knows that the product would fetch 2000x of how much he is getting paid for creating it, whereas the Sales guy has a better picture. That's why the Dev never asks for that money in return for creating that product and hence he never gets paid that much. The CEO on the other hand, has the complete picture of the cost, profits as well as any changes in market forces that might impact the product, hence taking out 200x the Dev's remuneration, still sparing for the handouts to the other guys.