Nissan's Ghosn Paid 982 Million Yen in Last FY

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn Wednesday said he received 982 million yen compensation in the year ended March, making him the highest paid foreign executive in Japan.

The amount, which includes salary and stock options, is equivalent to around $12 million at current exchange rates and was disclosed at Nissan's annual general meeting of shareholders.

The government last year made it a requirement for listed companies to report the names and salaries of executives who earn more than 100 million yen.

Ghosn's package, an increase of 10 percent year on year, tops the roughly 863 million yen Sony CEO Howard Stringer earned in the same year. Sony publicized that information on Tuesday at its shareholders' meeting.

The pay of Stringer and Ghosn, two high-profile foreigners at the helm of major companies in a country where executive compensation has traditionally been much lower than the United States and Europe, have attracted keen interest.

By contrast, Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota Motor, the world's biggest car maker, earned 136 million yen in compensation and stock options in the year ended March, the company said last week.

A French, Brazilian-born businessman of Lebanese origin, Ghosn is CEO of both Nissan and its largest shareholder, Renault. Wednesday's figure only covers the amount paid by Nissan.

Nicknamed "Le Cost Killer," Ghosn arrived at Nissan in 1999, dispatched by Renault after the French firm took a controlling interest in the Japanese car maker that was then on the brink of bankruptcy.

Japan's second-biggest car maker by volume after Toyota Motor boosted net profit more than seven-fold to 319.22 billion yen in the last fiscal year from 42.39 billion in the previous year on record global sales.