Ford increases CEO's pay 48 percent to $26.5 million

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co <F.N> Chief Executive Alan Mulally's total compensation rose 48 percent to $26.5 million in 2010 when the automaker reported its best net profit in a decade.

Mulally is credited with turning Ford around from the time he became CEO in October 2006, including steering it through the U.S. economic recessions without taking a U.S. government bailout as did the other two major U.S. automakers, General Motors Co <GM.N> and Chrysler.

Company executive chairman Bill Ford's 2010 compensation rose 57 percent to $26.4 million, including a salary of $4.8 million, some of which was deferred from 2008 and 2009 when the Ford scion said he would take no compensation until the company was profitable again.

Ford's net income of $6.6 billion in 2010 was its highest profit since 1999. That is up from 2009 net profit of $2.7 billion, which snapped a three-year streak of losses that totaled $30 billion from 2006 through 2008.

Compensation for Ford's top executives and directors was included in the company's 2010 proxy statement with U.S. regulators that also announced the company's annual meeting on May 12.

The 2010 compensation for Ford's top two executives does not include stock awards granted to them last month, which at the current share price are worth about $58 million for the 65-year-old Mulally and $43.8 million for Ford, 53, on a pre-tax basis.

Almost half of Bill Ford's 2010 compensation of $26.4 million was deferred from previous years, much of it on a voluntary basis, a company spokesman said.

Those awards based on company performance were first offered to Ford and Mulally in 2009 and were included in past proxy statements.

Mulally and Ford each had a base salary of $1.4 million in 2010 and that will increase to $2 million in 2010.

In 2010, Ford's U.S. sales rose 19.5 percent and it overtook Toyota to be No. 2 in sales in the United States. On Friday, Ford sold more cars than main rival GM for only the second time since 1998.

Mulally has pushed the company's "One Ford" plan, which has streamlined manufacturing, marketing and other aspects of the automaker's business and increased product quality as determined by independent analysts, including Consumer Reports.

Mark Fields, Ford's executive vice president and president of its operations in North America and South America, earned $1.3 million in salary and $3.6 million in cash bonuses in 2010. Including stock awards and options, Fields made $8.8 million.

Lewis Booth, Ford's chief financial officer, earned $1.2 million in salary and $3 million in cash bonuses. Including stock awards and stock options, Booth's 2010 compensation was $8.2 billion last year.

Ford's shares were just above $1 in late 2008 and soared to nearly $19 in January. On Friday, Ford shares were trading at $15.17 per share, up 20 percent from a year ago.

Chrysler came out of its 2009 bankruptcy under the management of Italy's Fiat SpA.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; editing by Matthew Lewis)