Volkswagen's Winterkorn Draws Record German Salary For 2011

After record results in 2011, Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE) reported Monday its Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn more than doubled his earnings for the year with a total EUR17.5 million, the highest salary so far for an executive of a DAX company.

Winterkorn's 2011 income compares with EUR9.3 million a year earlier. The EUR17.5 million figure includes a fixed salary of EUR1.89 million, a bonus of just over EUR11 million and other performance-related pay.

"Up to now we haven't seen a pay package this big" among DAX companies, Michael H. Kramarsch, managing partner and compensation expert at Hostettler, Kramarsch & Partner, said.

"Volkswagen is in a category of its own," Kramarsch said. VW's net profit exceeded that of the 10 smallest DAX companies combined, he said.

The Wolfsburg-based car maker had a 2011 net profit of EUR15.41 billion, up from EUR6.8 billion in the previous year, boosted by higher sales and an unspecified options gain connected to its purchase of Porsche AG's (PAH3.XE) sports-car business.

Behind Winterkorn on the Volkswagen board was Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Poetsch, who earned altogether EUR8.13 million, up from EUR4.21 million in 2010. The total remuneration for the eight members of Volkswagen's management board was EUR70.6 million.

Among DAX companies, the last record paycheck went to Josef Ackermann in 2007, HKP's Kramarsch said. Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank AG (DBK.XE) earned a total EUR13.98 million that year.

Based on the DAX companies that have so far published annual reports, the average total compensation for a DAX CEO in 2011 was EUR5.91 million, according to HKP.

-By Sarah Sloat; Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]