The boss of the world’s biggest automaker, Toyota, saw his pay packet swell by a third last year, filings showed Tuesday, but to a level that sees him still earning only a fraction of his overseas counterparts.
The Japanese auto giant paid its chief Akio Toyoda a total of 184 million yen ($1.86 million) in salary and bonuses, according to a filing from Japan’s Financial Services Agency on Tuesday.
Toyoda’s remuneration also includes dividends from shares he owns in the company, which was founded by his great-grandfather.
His salary was up about 35 percent from the previous 12 months after overseeing a tripling of net profit in the latest fiscal year to March, to 962.1 billion yen ($9.8 billion).
Toyota shares rose by about one-third over the same period.
Carlos Ghosn, head of rival Nissan, Japan’s number-two automaker, retained his ranking as possibly Japan’s best-paid CEO, raking in 988 million yen in the fiscal year to March.
That was a modest 0.1 percent rise from a year earlier, shareholders were told at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday. Investors voted to keep him on for another two-year term.
“Companies must employ and retain top leaders,” Ghosn told investors last year in response to questions on his pay package.
Ghosn has been credited with rescuing Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy, which is frequently cited as the reason for his above-average pay.
But even his handsome package was overshadowed by his counterparts in the United States where Ford chief executive
Alan Mulally was paid $21 million in 2012, while General Motors’ chief Dan Akerson received $11.1 million, US media has reported.
