Members of Ford's board of directors as well as Edsel Ford II will receive higher compensation this year according to a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The 15 board members will see their annual retainer increase to $250,000 from $200,000 while Edsel Ford's remuneration rises to $650,000 from $500,000 annually for being a consultant and representative of the company that bears his family name, according to the regulatory filing.
The Dearborn automaker reported net income of $20.2 billion in 2011, largely because of an accounting gain.
It was Ford's most profitable year since 1998 and included $8.8 billion in operating profit.
The board, which recently announced the addition of Jon Huntsman, the former U.S. ambassador to China, is playing a little catch-up on compensation and the filing said the new amounts are now on par with "companies similarly situated to Ford."
The annual retainer for directors was $200,000 until July 2006 when it was cut in half and in 2009, the cash payment was eliminated completely as the company struggled through the recession, said spokesman Todd Nissen. Compensation was reinstated to $200,000 in 2010.
At the end of each quarter, $37,500 or a total of 60% of the new compensation will be in the form of common stock.
Edsel Ford, who is active in such areas as motor sports, education projects, heritage events and dealer relations, in which he leads the annual Salute to Dealers recognition program, has received $500,000 a year since 1999, Nissen said.
The new consulting agreement, approved by the board at its December meeting, is dated as of Jan. 1, and recognizes the "substantial benefits realized by the company resulting from Edsel Ford's activities on behalf of the company," as well as those still to come, according to the 10-K.
He will be paid quarterly.
Compensation for President and CEO Alan Mulally and other top executives will not be revealed until this spring as part of the company's annual proxy statement.
The filing also revealed that Ford wants to invest 80% of its pension in fixed-income assets over the next few years.
In reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said the automaker wanted to "de-risk" the fund through a number of means, including more fixed-income investments.
Ford said it will contribute $3.5 billion to its underfunded pension this year but did not provide exact timing.
Globally, the pension fund is underfunded by $15.4 billion and in the U.S., it is $9.4 billion short. The automaker has said it plans to have the pension fully funded in the next several years.
