DETROIT: Ford Motor Co chief executive officer Mark Fields made US$18.6 million in salary and other compensation last year, below the US$23.2 million that predecessor Alan Mulally received in 2013, the company said on Friday.
Last year's compensation for Fields, 54, was for half the year as CEO and half as chief operating officer. For 2013, he made US$10.2 million as COO.
Mulally, who was replaced by Fields on July 1, made US$22 million in salary and other compensation for 2014. Ford's board decided he deserved a full year's worth of stock awards because the company felt his impact for the full year, a spokesman said.
Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said its CEO, Sergio Marchionne, received 31.3 million euros (about US$38 million at end-2014 exchange rates).
General Motors Co has said its CEO, Mary Barra, would make about US$14.4 million for 2014. The company has not yet disclosed her specific 2014 compensation.
Fields, Marchionne and Barra will have their compensation compared with that of unionised assembly line workers ahead of and during this summer's labour talks with the United Auto Workers.
The Center for Automotive Research last week estimated that Ford labour costs for each of its US union workers averaged US$57 per hour, including benefits. Hourly pay is between US$15.78 and US$28.50 for Ford line workers.
Ford executive chairman Bill Ford made US$15.1 million in 2014, up from US$12 million in 2013.
"We remain absolutely committed to aligning executive compensation with the company’s business performance and to tying a significant portion of executive compensation to long-term shareholder value," the company said in a statement.
Ford executives are compensated in part on meeting performance targets. The company achieved 91 percent of the targets last year, compared with 112 percent in 2013.
It surpassed targets for automotive cash flow, Ford Credit earnings and quality, but missed on automotive revenue and operating profit margin.
The company's pretax profit in 2014 was US$6.3 billion, down from US$8.6 billion the previous year, while net income fell to US$3.2 billion from US$7.2 billion. North American pretax profit in 2014 was US$6.9 billion.
