Ford Motor Co. President and CEO Alan Mulally received compensation valued at $22.8 million in 2007, down nearly 42 percent from the prior year, when he joined the company and collected a hefty signing bonus, according to a federal regulatory filing published Friday.
Mulally earned $2 million in salary and a $4 million bonus in 2007. The automaker lost $2.7 billion in 2007, largely because of continuing troubles in the North American market, an improvement from its $12.6 billion loss in 2006.
Ford gave Mulally stock and options awards it valued at $12.3 million on March 5, 2007, and March 30, 2007, the dates they were granted.
Mulally also received $1.4 million in perks. Ford’s executive perks include personal use of all of these: company phone cards and cell phones, car and driver service, season tickets to athletic events, club memberships and fuel and car washes for evaluation vehicles lent to executives.
For Mulally, the perks included $752,203 for his personal use of the company’s jet, as well as personal use of the jet by his wife, children and guests “to ease the burden of Mr. Mulally moving to Southeast Michigan and away from his family in Seattle, Washington,” according to the company’s proxy, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ford’s compensation committee determined that Mulally partially met his performance goals for the year and mostly met goals for operational effectiveness and strategic direction.
“The year 2007 marked a major turning point for Ford Motor Company,” Ford Chairman Bill Ford said in a statement. “We made significant progress toward our plan to return to profitability in North America and in our total operations in 2009. At the same time, we laid the foundation for future growth.”
The company reached an agreement in 2007 with the United Auto Workers that will lower pay levels for thousands of U.S. hourly workers and transfer billions in retiree health care liabilities to a separate, union-administered trust.
UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the pay for Mulally and other top executives was “excessive and unjustified,” particularly in light of the labor cost cuts the union agreed to last year.
“Our members at Ford agreed to substantial sacrifices in 2007 to help Ford survive so the company can rebuild and reinvest in the United States,” Gettelfinger said in a statement. “We did not sacrifice so that management could find a way to reward themselves with higher compensation.
No compensation was listed for Bill Ford, who announced in 2005 that he would forego a salary or bonus until the company has returned to profitability. In a filing last month with the SEC, the company said its compensation committee had decided to pay Bill Ford for 2008 and beyond retroactively once the company’s automotive operations have achieved full-year profitability.
Ford also revealed Friday it paid $29,107 for first-class airfare to fly Americas President Mark Fields to and from his home in Florida in 2007. Fields used to take the corporate jet to Florida, but agreed to give up that perk in 2007 after an outcry from dealers and others. Ford paid $517,560 for Fields’ use of the company plane in 2006, according to a previous filing.
Ford announced earlier this month that it will pay performance bonuses to all its hourly and salaried workers in the U.S. and Canada and all managers worldwide despite the loss in 2007. Hourly workers will get a lump-sum bonus of $1,000, while salaried workers will get bonuses based on pay and leadership level. Ford gave smaller bonuses to non-management employees in 2006.
The Associated Press calculates total pay including executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and options awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits or the company’s cost of stock and options granted before 2006, and the figures can differ from the company’s total.
Ford also announced that its annual shareholder meeting will be held May 8 at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Del.