7 Yahoo

Average yearly salary: $102,638

Yahoo the American multinational internet corporation has its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, United States. Yahoo employs about 12, 000 people.

The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine (Yahoo! Search), Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy sports and social media website and services. It is one of the largest websites in the United States.

Yahoo! Inc founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On January 13, 2009, Yahoo! appointed Carol Bartz, former executive chairman of Autodesk, as its new chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors.

It is caught in tough times with layoffs around the corner but it needs to pay talented software developers big bucks to keep them working for yahoo. A brand as big as yahoo has a reputation to maintain for which they require talent. And talent does not come cheap.

6 Google

Average yearly salary: $103,438

Google, the American multinational corporation which provides Internet-related products and services, including Internet search, cloud computing, software and advertising technologies is nothing short of a revolution.

The company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin was first incorporated as a privately held company on September 4, 1998, and its initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. The company's mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful”. The company's unofficial slogan is "Don't be evil".

Google is one of the biggest bands a software engineer can work for yet it stands at the sixth highest paying company in the list. This can be a deterrent for some but Google offers some of the best perks in the industry. Plus a chance to be associated with a brand like Google is a bonus in itself.