【英语生活】日产CEO年薪980万美元 成打工皇帝

Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday that he received 890 million yen ($9.8 million) in compensation in the fiscal year ended March, making him the highest-paid executive at a listed Japanese company, according to publicly disclosed information.

This is the first time the car maker has released the top executive's compensation figure, as the Financial Services Agency's new rules require that publicly traded companies in Japan disclose the annual compensation of executives receiving 100 million yen or more.

The amount compares with the roughly 816.5 million yen ($9 million) that Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer received in a combination of 410 million yen in salary and bonuses, and 406.5 million yen in stock options during the just-ended business year. Nissan declined to give the breakdown of Mr. Ghosn's salary and stock-option package.

The paychecks of Messrs. Stringer and Ghosn, two foreign heads of major Japanese companies, are being closely watched as compensation levels for Japanese executives are usually much less than for their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe. Even so, some observers had expected the pay levels to be in line with U.S. and European standards as the two men had previously held executive positions at overseas firms.

Mr. Ghosn, who is the CEO of Nissan's alliance partner Renault, also received total remuneration of 1.24 million ($1.52 million) for 2009 from the French car maker, down from 2.63 million in 2008.

The details of executive pay at Nissan are unlikely to find favor with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who criticized the automaker in a speech June 19 soon after he took office.

'Why is Ghosn's salary so high? Because he's good at firing people,' said Mr. Kan.

When a shareholder referred to Mr. Kan's comments at Wednesday's meeting, Mr. Ghosn said, 'I did make painful judgments [such as laying people off]. But Nissan's revival isn't only a story of restructuring. If that was the case, there would be no today [for Nissan].'

'If it were only restructuring, sales wouldn't had grown 50%. The 140,000 workers in the past grew to the current 170,000. Globally the number is increasing,' he said.

日产汽车公司（Nissan Motor）总裁戈斯恩（Carlos Ghosn）周三表示，在截至今年3月的这一财年，他总计获得了8.9亿日圆的年薪（约合980万美元）。根据公开资料显示，这一数字使其成为日本上市公司中年薪最高的高管。

Bloomberg News日产汽车公司总裁戈斯恩（Carlos Ghosn）这也是日产公司首次公开高管薪酬。根据日本财政事务局的最新规定，日本所有的上市公司必须公开披露那些高于1亿日圆的高管薪酬的具体信息。

戈斯恩获得的年薪和索尼公司的总裁斯特林格（Howard Stringer）旗鼓相当。在刚刚结束的这一财年，斯特林格的年薪总额约为8.165亿日圆（约合900万美元），其中4.1亿日圆为薪金和奖金，另外4.065亿为股票期权。日产公司则拒绝透露戈斯恩年薪的具体构成。

作为日本两家主要上市公司的外籍负责人，斯特林格和戈斯恩的薪资水平备受瞩目。一直以来，日本公司的高管薪酬远远低于美欧同行。即便如此，由于两人此前曾担任海外公司的高管职位，一些观察家曾预测他们的薪水很可能向美欧同行看齐。

作为日产合伙企业雷诺（Renault）的首席执行长，戈斯恩2009年还从法国车企雷诺公司总共领取了124万欧元（约合152万美元）的薪酬。而2008年该数字为263万欧元。

戈斯恩的薪酬恐怕让日本首相菅直人高兴不起来。就职后不久，他就在6月19号的一次演说中批评了日本的汽车厂商。

“戈斯恩的薪水为什么这么高？因为他善于裁员！” 菅直人说。

在周三的会议上，当一位股东提到日本首相的话时，戈斯恩是这样回应的，他说，我确实做出过痛苦的决定（比如裁员）。但日产的重生并非只是一个关于重组的故事。如果实际情况是那样的话，日产不会有今天。

戈斯恩补充说，如果仅仅只是涉及重组，销售额不会增加50%。我们的员工数量也不会从过去的14万人增加到如今的17万人。在全球范围内员工的数量都在增加。