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Marchionne Gets $54 Million in Pay and Perks for Year He Died

Marchionne Gets $54 Million in Pay and Perks for Year He Died

(Bloomberg) -- Fiat Chrysler Automobile NV’s late Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne received a total of $54 million in cash compensation, perks and shares in 2018, the year of his sudden death.

About $42 million of Marchionne’s haul came from 2.8 million shares granted under a long-term award that was linked to performance metrics spanning several years. He also was paid a $5.2 million bonus for 2017, and $2.3 million in salary. He didn’t receive a bonus for last year. Fiat Chrysler also paid about $5 million for Marchionne’s insurance premiums, tax preparation and tax equalization.

Marchionne Gets $54 Million in Pay and Perks for Year He Died

The board set a $14 million target compensation for 2019 for Marchionne’s successor, Mike Manley, including salary, bonus and restricted stock worth $10 million. Manley, who oversaw the Jeep brand before being tapped to lead the automaker in July, got about $1.1 million for his work in the second half of last year, including perks and a bonus that doesn’t pay out until this year.

Manley, 54, also received $3 million in restricted stock that could vest if certain targets are achieved. Fiat Chrysler didn’t disclose the compensation he received before he took over the CEO job from his ailing predecessor.

Marchionne Gets $54 Million in Pay and Perks for Year He Died

Compared with Marchionne, Manley’s pay is more in line with the typical executive compensation programs at firms in the U.S. and Western Europe: a salary, a bigger target bonus and a significantly larger equity award.

Marchionne reaped an annual salary of about $4 million in his final years on the job after the tie-up of Fiat and Chrysler in 2014 -- a far larger fixed compensation than his counterparts at automakers including General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG. He received several big awards around the time of the merger, most of which were tied to performance goals stretching several years.

Car-industry executive pay has been the subject of unprecedented coverage in the months since the arrest of fallen Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. executive Carlos Ghosn. The longtime leader of the French and Japanese automakers averaged about $15 million in reported annual compensation from the two companies in the years leading up to his arrest in 2018. Prosecutors have alleged about $70 million in deferred pay and benefits for Ghosn was concealed. He has denied the charges.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anders Melin in New York at amelin3@bloomberg.net;Gabrielle Coppola in New York at gcoppola@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net;Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.