Autoblog

After an abysmal 2005 where GM lost over $10 billion, CEO Rick Wagoner received a sizable pay cut from $2.2M to $1.28M. Yeah, we know, cry him freakin' river. The General's relative success of late, however, has convinced the board that Wagoner deserves to have his annual pay restored to the $2.2M he made from 2003-2005. While $2.2M is certainly a lot of coin, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what many CEOs are making these days.

GM is making up for Wagoner's meager pay by bolstering his portfolio with 165,000 shares, 500,000 stock options, and 75,000 restricted shares. If GM hits some pre-determined goals, the CEO will also receive up to $3.53 million in cash, and if GM shares hit $40 a share by 2012, the Duke grad will get an additional 500,000 stock options. With Wagoner's background in finance, we're sure he knows that all adds up to a nice chunk of change.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

For a retiree, Michael Schumacher sure has been getting a lot of press lately. If he's not testing prototypes for Ferrari, he's taking on rivals in the Race of Champions or getting in trouble with the fuzz for driving a taxi. But the 7-time world champion is also making an awful lot of money for someone who isn't even working.

Thanks to continued partnerships with some of Schumacher's biggest sponsors, the driving superstar is expected to pull in a staggering €35 million over the next seven years, taking his sponsorship deals through 2014.

Schumi's manager Willi Weber has been hard at work maintaining the commercial relationships with such big sponsors as Shell, Omega and Deutsche Vermogenberatung. At this year's RoC, the champ wore a white, black and orange suit decked out in sponsor's logos instead of the scarlet he wore while driving for Ferrari.

[Source: F1-Live, Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty]

UPDATE: Link to source finally added. Our bad.


A tip sent us to the blog of Dr. Mark J. Perry, professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan, who points out that hourly union workers at the Big 3 make on average 57.6% more in a year than a university professor with a Ph.D. Using figures from the automakers themselves, Dr. Perry tells us that a union worker at Ford makes $141,020/year including wages and benefits. A worker at General Motors makes $146,520/year and one at Chrysler earns $151,720/year. According to another report he cites, the average annual salary for a college professor in 2006 was $92,973, which happens to be close to the $96,000/year a Honda, Nissan or Toyota worker makes in the U.S.

Why trot out all these numbers? It's clear that upcoming negotiations between the Big 3 and UAW will likely yield concessions in both wages and healthcare costs. They have to if the U.S. auto industry is to survive. Dr. Perry references those who say the concessions must be "transformational", and to illustrate what that means, he suggests that Union workers would have to accept a wage equal to that of a college professor with a Ph.D.

We get that union auto workers are overpaid, we really do. Dr. Perry, however, seems to imply that there's something inherently wrong with a Ph.D professor making less than a high-school educated auto worker. The wage of a union auto worker, however, should come down because it's artificially high, not because the social order of education dictates that those with Ph.Ds should earn more than those who only finished high school. But hey, maybe we're being too sensitive.

[Source: Carpe Diem]

You may be shocked and startled to find out that Takuma Sato is among the highest-paid drivers in F1. This despite his dismal driving record, reputation as an irresponsible driver, and inability to hold on to his race seat without protection from his patrons at Honda.

Factoring in his salary from perennial backmarkers Super Aguri, plus his sponsorship contracts – which we'd assume would be substantial given Japan's love of F1 and Sato's standing as Japan's premier racing driver – Takuma pulled in an estimated $7.7 million in 2006. His new team-mate at Super Aguri, meanwhile, will be paid about $250,000 – barely a fraction of Sato's earnings.

That kind of dough puts Takuma in the same earning bracket as world champion Fernando Alonso and ahead of his old team-mate Jenson Button, among many, many other well-reputed drivers.

At this point, Autoblog would like to welcome Super Aguri to hire any member of our writing staff. There are several of us who'd be glad to crash a whole bunch of cars for you for a lot less than $7.7 million!

[Source: F1i]

Ford Motor released details of its executive compensation Friday, as part of its 2006 proxy statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission. At the top of the list is chairman and CEO Bill Ford, whose 2005 total compensation took a big hit, falling 40 percent to $13,298,279. In all fairness, this compensation takes form of stock and stock options virtually in its entirety. Ford has pledged to forgo any cash compensation until the company's automotive operations return to profitability.

High-profile wunderkind Mark Fields, President of the Americas, pulled in about $3.2 million, including a $1 million cash "retention payment" to make sure he sticks around.

[Sources: Washington Post, Ford Motor Company]