Despite huge losses, Ford awards CEO huge bonus
The board also approved cash payments to other senior executives to compensate them for a bonus program the company is scrapping in favor of a new compensation plan, according to documents filed with Securities and Exchange Commission late Wednesday.
The news of the payouts came as thousands of salaried workers who signed up for buyouts or early retirement packages bid tearful farewells to their friends and colleagues. It also follows close on the heels of the record $12.7 billion loss the automaker posted for 2006.
"(It was a) sad day today, lots of people I knew left," one worker told The Detroit News. "Many of the engineering offices look like Swiss cheese with all of the empty cubicles that have opened up."
[Editor's Note: Only in America can a CEO who is a complete and utter failure after his company posted record losses during his tenure, get a huge pay increase. And you wonder why Ford is teetering on bankruptcy?]