If businessman John Charman cashed in all his estimated $267 million worth of shares of Axis Capital he could lay the resulting single dollar bills flat on the ground, end-to-end, and comfortably circle the equator of the Earth.

In fact he'd have enough dollar notes left over to cover an additional 900 miles beyond the 24,902 miles around the equator.

It is a mind-boggling amount of stock and is based on an estimate of the value of shares Mr. Charman currently controls in Axis and has yet to cash in.

The Axis Capital chief executive officer owns and controls 6,757,090 shares in the company, according to Axis' latest proxy filing.

Mr. Charman, who is appealing against a court-ordered $96m settlement to his former wife, is top of the chart in Bermuda in a list of who owns the biggest pile of company shares amongst the Bermuda-based insurers and reinsurers that are publicly listed in the US.

If all his shares were cashed in and paid out in one dollar bills the resulting money, with the dollar bills tightly packed and standing on their side, would stretch 18.14 miles, or just over a mile-and-a-half longer than the maximum length of Bermuda (a direct line from St. David's to the western shore of Somerset).

He is literally miles ahead of the next richest identified in a comprehensive list of 198 directors and officers who own and control the most shares in their companies, as compiled by Miami-based Inside Bermuda publication, which is produced by former Royal Gazette <$>reporter David Marchant.

Mr. Charman, along with XL Capital president Brian O'Hara and Ace Limited director Brian Duperreault all have stock options topping $100 million, according to the report.

Mr. O'Hara's shares are worth around $132m and Mr. Duperreault's $123m, representing 8.9 miles and 8.3 miles of tightly-packed single dollar notes. The two men could, theoretically, stand their money on edge and form a narrow carpet from their offices in Hamilton to L.F. Wade International Airport.

The Inside Bermuda report relies on figures in the various company proxy reports, and is based on recent share prices. It should be noted that for some of those included in the report not all the shares attributed to them are directly in their ownership — most commonly a small portion are in a trust, or family ownership. Also some stock options are tied to historical share prices that, when exercised, will realise a lower value than the current open market price.

However, Mr. Marchant's chart provides an interesting broad snapshot of where the various CEOs and directors stand as regards the stocks they hold in their name.

To get into the top ten requires control of shares and share options worth $48m. In his report, Mr. Marchant notes: "Of the 198 people reviewed, 19 percent of them had holdings in their employers worth at least $10m and 64 percent had holdings worth at least $1m.

"The youngest person to appear is 34-year-old Michael McGuire, Endurance specialty's CFO, with a shareholding valued at $858,257. The oldest was 79-year-old Frank Tasco, a director of Axis Capital, whose shares in Axis are worth $3.2m."

Arch Capital has more officers and directors in the top reaches of the list than any other company, reflecting the greater percentage ownership of the company's shares by its directors and officers, some 29.7 percent, although this was lower than in 2006 when the same survey showed Arch's directors and officers with 48.4 percent.

Mr. Charman would not be top of the Bermuda pile if the review was stretched to include recently departed officers and directors. Mr. Marchant said: "Former Renaissance Re chairman and CEO James Stanard would have come top since he still beneficially owns and controls RenRe shares worth $291m. Mr. Stanard left the employ of RenRe in November 2005."