Ford CEO Paid $12 Million Last Year, Up Almost 19%

Ford Motor Co. disclosed Tuesday that Chief Executive and President Jacques Nasser earned $12.1 million last year as he grappled with the crisis that erupted over deaths and injuries in rollovers of the popular Explorer sport-utility vehicle.

The figure, which included salary, bonus and other compensation, marked a nearly 19% increase in compensation for Nasser compared with 1999, when he earned $10.2 million in his first year as president and CEO of the world’s No. 2 auto maker.

Nasser, a 30-year Ford veteran, was paid a salary of $1.6 million in 2000, a bonus of $7.7 million and other compensation totaling $2.7 million.

He also received $3.5 million in common stock, under a long-term incentive plan for his performance in 1999, and options for 906,703 shares, which the auto maker valued at $5.7 million, based on the date they were granted.

The options, which carry an exercise price of $22.73 a share, expire in March 2010.

Nasser’s total compensation package for last year, stripping out the $3.5-million stock grant for 1999, could be worth $17.8 million.

That was for a year that saw Ford enjoy record U.S. sales and record operating earnings. The figures were disclosed in Ford’s annual proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But more than strong financial results, 2000 will go down in corporate history books as the year in which Nasser, a plain-speaking Australian, dealt almost single-handedly with the furor over last summer’s massive recall of 6.5 million tires made by Firestone, a unit of Japan’s Bridgestone Corp.

Deadly blowouts and tread separations in Firestone ATX, ATX II and Wilderness AT tires--many of which were fitted as standard equipment on Explorers--have been linked by federal regulators to 174 deaths and more than 700 injuries in the United States.

In deciding to raise Nasser’s salary for 2000, Ford said his job duties, corporate performance and the pay practices of other companies were taken into consideration by its compensation committee.

Ford shares closed down 4 cents at $28.96 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares did not get a boost from news that Ford was recalling its all-new 2002-model Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer sport-utility vehicles to correct a design flaw that can cause glass in the rear lift-gate to shatter or detach when it is closed.