It’s no secret that Fiat is in dire straits right now. Its CEO, Sergio Marchionne, is counting on increased productivity and U.S. sales, but he’s also prepared to close down two Italian plants if push comes to shove.
According to Reuters, Marchionne and Fiat Chairman (and Gianni Agnelli grandson) John Elkann will meet with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and, subsequently, with Labor and Industry Ministers, Elsa Fornero and Corrado Passera, today to discuss the group’s plans concerning its local operations.
Monti is no stranger to Fiat as he has is a friend of the Agnelli family and was on the company’s board from 1988 until 1993. However, it’s the first time that he will meet with its management as a Prime Minister.
Fornero said that the automaker’s top management has already told the government it will go ahead with its plan which calls for an investment of €2.5 billion (US#3.3 billion) at its Naples and Turin factories.
Meanwhile, while Marchionne wasn’t paid a dime from Chrysler in 2011, yesterday Fiat SpA announced that it paid its CEO a total compensation of €14.5 million (US$19 million) last year: €2.45 million (US$3.2 million) in cash and €12.01 million (US$15.7 million) in stocks.
Milan Polytechnic marketing professor Giuliano Noci told Bloomberg News: “Marchionne’s salary is in line with the industry’s top managers, and he shares company’s risk with the stock payment”.
The professor does have a point: after all, VW’s Martin Winterkorn doubled his annual salary to €17.5 million (US$23 million) in 2011.
The best part is that if you add Marchionne’s and Winterkorn’s salaries, you’d still come a couple of million bucks short of the US$58.3 million (€44.1 million) Ford CEO Alan Mulally received in stock last year.
One can’t help but feel…”sorry” for GM’s Dan Akerson. He runs the world’s number one carmaker, and might have found a way to make Opel/Vauxhall profitable but he is still waiting for approval of his 2011 payment from the Obama administration and won’t even get a cash bonus for his performance.
