2nd UPDATE: Nissan CEO Highest-Paid Foreign Executive In Japan

Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn held on to his place as the highest-paid foreign executive at a listed Japanese company in the last fiscal year with Y982 million ($12.1 million) in total compensation, a rise of 10% from the previous year.

The head of Japan's second-biggest car maker by volume told shareholders at an annual meeting Wednesday that his pay rise in the fiscal year ended March 2011 came after the company boosted net profit by more than seven-fold and logged record global vehicle sales during the period.

Ghosn's most recent pay package compared with the Y891 million in total remuneration that he received in the previous fiscal year, when he was also the country's highest paid foreign executive, and eclipsed the Y863 million paid to Sony Corp. (6758.TO) Chief Executive Howard Stringer.

At the meeting Wednesday, some Nissan shareholders questioned the size of Ghosn's pay packet, which was more than seven times larger than those of his counterparts at other major Japanese car makers, despite his explanation that his pay was based on global, rather than Japanese standards.

Nissan determines its executive pay based on data collected by New York-based human-resources-services firm Towers Watson, the CEO said.

"This is a very transparent process," said Ghosn, who also serves as CEO of Nissan's French partner Renault SA (RNO.FR). "We want to be confident, and this is done very seriously."

Ghosn's salary was below the $15.3 million average compensation for comparable auto industry CEOs and also below the $14.3 million average for comparable CEOs of other multinational industrial companies, Nissan said.

Ghosn's remuneration at Nissan was seven times the EUR1.24 million pay packet he received from Renault in 2010. He waived his bonus after the French car maker was embroiled in a highly embarrassing affair in which it wrongly accused three top executives of selling secrets on Renault's electric vehicle program. Ghosn didn't receive a bonus the previous year, either, after the company failed to meet its targets.

Renault owns 44% of Nissan, while the Japanese company owns 15% of Renault.

Japanese senior executives tend to earn less than their counterparts at other multinational companies: Toyota Motor Corp. (7203.TO), Japan's biggest car maker by volume, said last week that President Akio Toyoda earned Y136 million ($1.7 million)in the last fiscal year, while Takanobu Ito, chief executive and president at Japan's third-biggest car maker Honda Motor Co. (7267.TO) received Y130 million ($1.6 million).

By comparison, General Motors Co. (GM) Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Akerson received compensation worth $2.5 million last year after he became CEO on Sept. 1, while Ford Motor Co. (F) CEO Alan Mulally made more than $26.5 million in salary and stock options last year.

Ghosn said six other directors at Nissan earned Y100 million or more in the last fiscal year. Under new rules introduced last year, the Financial Services Agency requires that publicly traded companies disclose the annual compensation of executives receiving Y100 million or more.

The details will be made available in a filing to the regulatory authorities Thursday, Ghosn said.

Nissan on Monday outlined an ambitious growth strategy for the next six years, in which it aims to raise its profit margin to 8% from 6.1% in the last fiscal year, and targets a global market share of 8% from 5.8% in the last fiscal year.

-By Yoshio Takahashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 813-6269-2791; yoshio.takahashi@dowjones.com

(David Pearson in Paris contributed to this article.)

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