Stellantis CEO Tavares's compensation up 56%, receiving US$39.5M
Much from incentives tied to company's performance, with record profit of $20B
According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Stellantis, CEO Carlos Tavares received a 56 per cent increase in compensation to US$39.5 million in 2023.
The 65-year-old native of Lisbon, Portugal, didn't collect that sum entirely last year as it also includes things such as retirement benefits. His direct compensation including cash and vested equity awards was $25.4 million.
Tavares, who started his career in 1981 as a test-driving engineer with Renault, earned $24.8 million in 2022.
His 2023 compensation package included a base salary of $2.16 million, short-term performance incentives ($6.26 million), deferred long-term incentives ($28.3 million), post-retirement benefits of $2.1 million and other benefits worth $686,885. The longer-term incentives covered the period of 2021-25 and were tied to performance targets.
“Our philosophy, approach and delivery of remuneration is strongly linked to the company's performance and interests of our shareholders,” said Stellantis in the SEC filing.
“All elements of our compensation structure are market-driven with a significant portion (88.9 per cent) of overall compensation (base salary, short-term incentive and long-term incentive) subject to performance risk for our CEO.
“The long-term incentive, Transformation Award and Shareholder Return Award are aligned with the long-term success and sustainability of Stellantis as it competes in a dynamic industry undergoing a significant transformation driven by electrification and software technologies.”
Stellantis made a record profit of about $20 billion in 2023 and had one of the highest adjusted operating income margins (12.8 per cent) in the industry.
That helped increase the value of Stellantis's stock by nearly 70 per cent in the past nine months. Shares hit a record high on the European markets to end last week.
The SEC filings also contained compensation figures for other senior Stellantis executives and members of the board of directors.
Chair John Elkann took home $5.2 million, while vice-chair Robert Peugeot had total compensation of $234,764. The pay packets for the eight directors ranged from zero to $310,516.
In the filings, Stellantis reported the average wage paid to its employees was just over $76,000, which represents a 9.4 per cent increase over 2022.
Stellantis has 81,341 employees in North America, down from 88,835 in 2022, while its global workforce contracted by 5.2 per cent to 258,000 workers.
The CEO pay packets for the other Detroit 3 automakers, Ford and General Motors, have not been revealed yet.
General Motors' CEO Marry Barra collected $29 million in 2022 while Ford's Jim Farley earned $21 million.