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Nissan's Ghosn was paid Y1.1 billion in FY 2016

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he should get paid more, he saved that company

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

1.1 billion Yen isn't enough for one guy? He has spent most of his time at Nissan as the highest paid executive in all of Japan (and in years he wasn't #1 he has always been in the top 2-3).

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's a lot of money, but it's still nothing compared to the absolutely criminal amounts that CEOs in the USA and parts of Europe receive...

2 ( +5 / -3 )

If the company made 660 billion yen net profit and he gets 1 billion yen as the leader of the company, that sounds reasonable.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Agree with a high salary but that is a bit much. He may have saved the company with his ideas but it was the workers that gave their blood, sweat and tears. They should be getting big bonuses. Put the money into the Japanese economy.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

My smile would be even bigger than his if it were my income.

Like it or not, this is what he is paid as agreed with his employer. Their business.

Where is he resident? He must be paying some hefty taxes if resident in Japan, so I suspect he isn't.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

He lives in France,.

If I am not mistaken, didn't Hollande levy something like 75% tax on the wealthy

forcing some wealthy people to move out of France.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

According to Wikipedia, "He has residences in France, Japan, and Brazil".

If he splits his time evenly between residence, maybe that would make him exempt from resident taxes? I have no doubt this guy is a clever cookie...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

His tax payments all depend upon how he is contracted here. If he is like other many other contracted foreigners working in Japan, he is paying Japanese taxes off the top. Just like a regular employee, along with health insurance and pension wages as well.

It ALL depends upon the contract.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That doesn't sound like much for such a massive automaker.. How much was his bonus and stock package? I assume that part would boost his income by a few multiples

0 ( +0 / -0 )

When I cared what executives did for a living, I found out Goshn did two things while he was living in Japan: Work and study Japanese. Nothing else. Even his dinners in nice restaurants was work related. So, if he wants that kind of non-work-life balance and Simultaneously pull Nissan from the brink of bankruptcy into the profit plateau, he deserves it.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

We should get our salary quoted after all taxes (net). Its misleading in my view...same with showing prices before sales tax. It should be calculated in the price.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It's a lot of money, but it's still nothing compared to the absolutely criminal amounts that CEOs in the USA and parts of Europe receive...

It is interesting how people believe they have the right to determine how other people spend their own money. Unless you own shares of a company what that company pays it's employees is none of your concern. The stockholders in companies in the US and Europe obviously place value on attaining a good chief executive and choose to pay the market price for one.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Foreign execs are expensive. At my last company (Japanese) the western BoD members were all paid more than the CEO himself, but I suppose it's necessary to get them to sign up, even tho if you're already making millions what's making a couple mil less for a couple years.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It's purely a matter for the Nissan shareholders to decide whether this is reasonable or not. Don't forget by the way that he also has very senior roles at Renault and now Mitsubishi Motors, so this figure is not going to be his full whack. As for tax, he would be taxed in Japan for all work done in Japan. But at a lower rate than normal if he is not considered a tax-resident of Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Unless you own shares of a company what that company pays it's employees is none of your concern. The stockholders in companies in the US and Europe obviously place value on attaining a good chief executive and choose to pay the market price for one.

Such a naive opinion, you obviously don't know how it typically works. Often CEOs and boards propose huge pay raises for each other and shareholders don't even get a direct say on it, or it's a non-binding vote. And even when they do get a say, the executives usually own enough shares themselves together with the typical default pro-management votes of hedge funds that the proposals typically pass.

Another issue is that executives base pay on the pay of executives from a pool of other similar companies - but the other companies are all doing the same so when one company increases, the others all follow suit. Therefore it creates an upward spiral and executive pay just keeps on skyrocketing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Such a naive opinion, you obviously don't know how it typically works. Often CEOs and boards propose huge pay raises for each other and shareholders don't even get a direct say on it, or it's a non-binding vote.

Interestingly at most companies and with most executives in Japan, this is not the case. Japan's Companies Act requires shareholder approval of the pay (including base pay, bonuses, stock options and retirement benefits) for the board of directors, and that is a binding vote (as opposed to the US where it is non binding).

Nissan's shareholders approved a maximum of 2.6 billion Yen for the entire board, including Ghosn, in its 2007 meeting and that cap is still in place. The board can decide how it apportions that amount among the directors, and obviously almost half of it goes to Ghosn (chairman of the board).

Nissan's pay structure is unusual for Japan since Ghosn's pay is more in line with foreign rather than domestic markets for executives. Toyota, despite being a bigger company in the same line of business, pays its president way less.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Interestingly at most companies and with most executives in Japan, this is not the case. Japan's Companies Act requires shareholder approval of the pay (including base pay, bonuses, stock options and retirement benefits) for the board of directors, and that is a binding vote (as opposed to the US where it is non binding).

That is interesting, and in my opinion a good thing. It probably explains why executive pay in Japan is not out of control like it is in the US.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

That is interesting, and in my opinion a good thing. It probably explains why executive pay in Japan is not out of control like it is in the US.

Its probably part of it, but I think the main reason is that there is almost no executive-level labor market in Japan. Almost all the top executives at Japanese companies spent their entire careers with that company (and the few that didn't are almost all foreigners like Ghosn), so anyone leaving their job when they are in a management position will tend to be seen as "damaged goods" by other companies, who won't hire them (also since they recruit management internally rather than externally).

This gives those executives way less bargaining power than they would have in a US style market since their company knows they have nowhere else to go and will take whatever pay they are given since any threat to quit and take their talents elsewhere will be an empty one (unlike the US where people can easily change companies at that level of employment).

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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