Nissan Compensation Unchanged for CEO Ghosn

Nissan Motor Co. paid CEO Carlos Ghosn 988 million yen (€7.7 million) in salary and bonus for the fiscal year ended March 31, virtually the same amount as in each of the previous two years.

The compensation does not include stock options that the company granted him or his pay as CEO of alliance partner Renault SA.

Nissan's net income was flat at 342.4 billion yen (€2.7 billion) in the 2012-2013 fiscal period, a lower profit than rivals Honda and Toyota.

Ghosn's compensation is likely to make him the one of the highest-paid executives in Japan, as he was last year. But Ghosn defends his paycheck, saying it is relatively low by global auto standards.

Comparable automakers paid an average of $15.3 million (€11.7 million) to their CEOs last year, according to Nissan, which cites New York City-based human resources firm Towers Watson & Co.

The company's top executives, including Ghosn, received a combined 1.8 billion yen (€14.3 million) for past fiscal year.