$17.9 Million For Nasser
Nothing Succeeds Like Failure The saying goes that “nothing succeeds like success” but for ex-Ford Chief Executive Officer, exactly the opposite seems true, as he is laughing all the way to the bank following his dismissal last year from the world’s second-largest auto manufacturer. It has been revealed that, last year, Nasser received $1.75 million in salary and $3.
1 million in incentive pay, related to Ford’s performance between 1998 and 2000. He also picked up options on Ford stock which were worth $12.9 million when given to him.
Not that they are worth anything like that now, as the company’s abysmal performance during 2001 saw the shares fall by over 30 per cent up to the end of October, when Nasser and Ford parted company. In a year in which Ford replaced millions of Firestone tyres and paid even more millions to settle litigation about Explorer rollovers out of court, the company lost $5.45 billion – its first loss in nine years – closed factories, laid off workers and made a complete about turn in Nasser’s “showroom to scrapyard” strategy.
It never ceases to amaze that, if a humble clerk performs badly, he is fired with the minimum of benefits, but somebody presiding over a corporate disaster walks away with more than enough money for life. With remarkable understatement, a manager for an equity fund which holds 135,000 Ford shares was reported as saying “Mr. Nasser’s award seems awfully generous considering the results.
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