Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corporation President Akio Toyoda became the highest-paid auto executive in Japan after dividend payouts pushed his total compensation past Nissan Motor Company’s Carlos Ghosn.
Toyoda earned 1.27 billion yen ($10.3 million) in compensation and dividends, according to regulatory filings.
While Nissan paid Ghosn almost three times more in salary, he collected less from dividend payments, netting him a total 1.14 billion yen.
Toyota boosted its payout to all shareholders in the fiscal year ended March 31 as its profit surged to a record.
Toyoda, 59, is emerging from a period in which he banned the building of new assembly plants to improve Toyota’s efficiency.
The world’s largest automaker is now moving forward with plans to build two new factories in Mexico and China before the end of the decade.
Ghosn, 61, has long been the best-paid executive among Japan’s automakers and has been the highest earner across all industries in the country three times since 2010.
Nissan earned 458 billion yen last fiscal year and has forecast a third straight annual profit increase.
* With assistance from Hideki Asai and Ma Jie in Tokyo
Bloomberg