Byline: Jim Mateja
Bill Ford Jr. needs to have his melon examined.
The chairman and chief executive of Ford Motor Co. has refused to take a salary since he assumed the job in 2001.
So every payday for the last three years, Ford has had to slip in the front door at night and sneak past the Mrs. because he again has no check to hand over to her.
Imagine explaining that to the spouse: You're the boss. You run a company ranked No. 4 in the Fortune 500 listings. And you do so gratis.
Not a very good example to set for fellow CEOs, who have been accused of late of adopting a "where's mine" approach to personal compensation when it comes to divvying up the profits.
Of course, Ford isn't alone in such paycheck foolishness. You may recall that former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca once toiled for $1 a year when the carmaker was in dire financial straits. Iacocca, it should be noted, was Ford Motor Co. president before chairman Henry Ford II pink-slipped him. So maybe it's a corporate culture thing.
But Bill Ford's largesse puts Iacocca's to shame.
Bill Ford hasn't even received a bonus since he took the top job at the automaker.
After the automaker lost more than $6 billion for 2001 and 2002 combined, it eked out a $495 million profit for 2003. So, the board of directors' compensation committee decides to spread the wealth, or what there is of it, and award Bill Ford a $1.5 million bonus for `03.
And what does he do with that?
He gives it away!
1.5 million dollars!
CEOs spend countless hours coming up with elaborate schemes to obtain millions from their companies and here are directors dropping $1.5 million in Bill Ford's lap, no questions asked, and he gives it away.
Every CEO who pulls down millions while his company loses more must be scratching his well-coifed head in disbelief.
Ford has opted to donate the money to fund the college tuition of employees' kids. Hopefully, those kids will become so well-educated that they'll know what to do when someone hands them a check for $1.5 million.
In all honesty, of course, $1.5 million isn't going to send every kid of every Ford Motor Co. employee to college.
And it might not prove to be $1.5 million.
The bonus Ford received in March was 113,122 shares of restricted stock equivalents. Those equivalents don't translate into stock shares that he can sell until March 2005. At that time the shares could be worth more or less than $1.5 million based on the value of the stock at the time.
But it's the thought that counts.
Of course, it's also fair to say that Bill Ford, great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, doesn't have to hold a garage sale every Saturday to put a meal on the table.
Bill Ford owns 2.7 million shares of company stock worth roughly $35 million, though until the shares are sold the only benefit is the 40-cents-a-share dividend that brings in $1.08 million annually. He also holds 4.4 million in unexercised stock options.
But at a time when CEOs are the targets of criticism for greed and corruption, Bill Ford's action is a refreshing diversion.
Or, as another CEO, Martha Stewart, oops, former CEO, would say:
"It's a good thing."
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(Write to Jim Mateja, Chicago Tribune, 616 Atrium Drive, Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1523, or send e-mail, including name and hometown, to jmateja@tribune.com.)
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(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.
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